One Little Slip
by Tweek's Panda
Summary: Wendy Testaburger is a senior in high school and on top of the world. She has everything she could ever hope for...but when she makes a drunken mistake with an old flame, how will they handle the consequences? **CHAPTER 7 NOW UP!**
1. Uno

**Author's Notes: **Yeah yeah yeah, I know, I know. In My Head will eventually be updated…funny story there. See, I'm a dumbass who didn't think to send the file from her school computer to her home computer, so I didn't have it all summer. Anyway, this is my new story and it has nothing to do with In My Head. If you read my story on Freedom of Speech Fanfiction (Senior Year Suckage), then this plot is going to seem very familiar to you. But I can assure you…Senior Year Suckage is MY story, so I'm not ripping any plots off of other authors. Now, for a bit of background information on this story…everyone is a senior (unless otherwise noted), and they all attend Park County High School which is in Fairplay…or at least it is in MY story. Because let's face it, South Park has like thirty kids total…hardly enough for a high school of their own. We're also going to pretend that Park County High School has about fifteen feeder middle schools. This story starts out in late July and just to clarify for everyone…it's going to be the 2006-2007 school year, which means that everyone is graduating in 2007. Just like me…and really, that's correct if you go by when they were in third grade because I was in third grade at the same time they were. So this is starting in late July 2006. I don't know Wendy's parents' names, so in my story they are Kathy and Martin. I also gave her an older brother named Seth and a younger sister named Jessica because I fucking can, goddammit. Seth is two years older than Wendy and he's going into his sophomore year at University of Washington in Seattle. Jessica is two years younger and she's going into her sophomore year at Park County High School…she is Kenny's sister Katie's age and they are friends, okay? Okay. Also, there are going to be three fankids in this story. My own, Mandi Smith, BrownSugar1's, Janae Taylor, and Kenny's Goddess's, Kyren Andrews. They won't have big parts, though…mostly some lame side plots and occasional comic relief. Now read, enjoy, and review.

Wendy Testaburger watched the clouds roll by the window. She glanced next to her at her parents. Her mother, ever the acrophobic, had long since popped her Xanax and passed out. She was shocked that she had managed to convince her that it would be worth it to fly to Chicago so that she could visit colleges. Her father had been all for it, of course. He was Wendy's main ally in getting the hell out of South Park so she could become something more than a small town waitress. Her mother, however, had other ideas. She held onto the idea of Wendy attending the local community college to get a two year degree in nursing. Then she wanted Wendy to marry Stan Marsh, of all people, and settle down in a house down the street from her parents. Nevermind the fact that Wendy had the grades to get into Harvard and hadn't even looked at Stan in that way since middle school AND that she had been dating Token since the summer before her junior year. But her mother was adamant because Stan "obviously had good genes" and any children he and Wendy would produce would "surely be beautiful". Wendy's mother had always been on of the meddling types, but Wendy generally brushed her off. She had no need for the maternal wisdom or guidance Kathy was so willing to provide. Jessica let Kathy meddle in her life all she wanted, but Wendy was not having it. Kathy had taken to leaving Wendy alone and Wendy certainly did not seem to mind. Of course Kathy and Wendy still had a mother daughter relationship, but it was not like what Kathy remembered having with her mother when she had been Wendy's age. Their relationship had mostly centered on Kathy driving Wendy to and from the places she needed to be before she had gotten her license. After that, it mostly centered on Kathy forcing Wendy into going to mass every Sunday morning and praising her whenever she got some kind of award at school. She and Wendy never really talked much outside of that. Wendy had never allowed Kathy the satisfaction of helping her pick out a dress for a dance or sharing her giddiness when the guy she liked finally called or asked her out. Even though she wasn't particularly close to Kathy, Wendy did maintain a fairly close relationship with Martin. While Martin obviously loved and adored Seth and Jessica as well as Wendy, it was clear who his pride and joy was. It was Martin she went to for advice, Martin she asked to listen to her speeches. It was Martin who had suggested that they visit colleges in other states. It had been a battle when Seth had asked to go to Washington State, but he had won it. Wendy had the brains of the family and she bitched about how it wasn't fair for her dumbfuck older brother to go to school in another state when she was the one with all the potential. Wendy, who had fallen in love with Chicago when she had visited Kathy's younger sister there the summer before, had begged and pleaded to go back to check out Northwestern. Martin had readily agreed, of course, but Kathy had had her doubts. But, as always, Wendy and Martin had teamed up against her and won. And so she had found herself waking up three weeks later at 5AM so they could make their 7AM flight from Denver to Chicago O'Hare.

--

"Wendy! Oh honey, you look great! You've grown so much!" Wendy's aunt Audrey gushed, grinning and hugging Wendy.

"You just saw me four months ago. I haven't grown that much!" she replied, laughing. Kathy had never received one of those smiles from Wendy. Not since Wendy was in fifth grade, anyway.

"Nonsense. You have gotten even more beautiful, if that's even possible." Audrey replied, finally releasing Wendy.

"She's the spitting image of mom, isn't she?" Kathy threw in, smiling a little.

"I'd say she looks more like Audrey, Kathy." Martin replied, winking at Audrey. Audrey just rolled her eyes at him. Kathy rolled her eyes as well. Audrey way younger than her and Martin had always made it a point to tease her.

"So Jess and Seth opted not to come?" Audrey asked, looking around for them.

"Seth has his internship in Denver. He couldn't get time off." Martin replied, shrugging. It didn't really bother him because it was less money he had to shell out for plane tickets.

"And Jess?" Audrey asked, once again looking around. Kathy wanted to tell her that they weren't lying to her, that Seth and Jessica were not going to materialize in the crowd, but she bit her tongue.

"Jessica wanted to stay home. I think she has a boyfriend." Kathy replied, grinning. At least Jessica shared her crushes with her. She just didn't clarify whether those crushes were more than simple infatuation.

"Well, come on. Let's get out of this crowded airport and grab something to eat." Audrey said, breaking Kathy's train of thought and hooking her arm through Wendy's.

Audrey took them to a small restaurant just a few miles from the airport. The cuisine was mostly vegetarian, but Martin and Kathy found things on the menu that they could stomach. Wendy, happy to be away from Token and his nagging, had ordered a large bean sprout salad and tomato soup. Token was not exactly thrilled about her vegetarian lifestyle, often trying to talk her out of it and into eating meat. He had taken her to an expensive steakhouse for their one year anniversary a couple of months before and then gotten pissed off when she had ordered a baked potato and a salad. He had told her off in front of a giant group of people and even made her find her own way home.

"Wendy? You still alive over there?" Martin asked, poking her gently with his fork.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." she replied, smiling.

"Tired from the flight, hon?" Audrey asked.

"Oh, no, not really. I was just thinking how it's nice to be able to eat the food I like and not get nagged about it." she said, taking a bite of her salad.

"Nagged? Who nags you? I don't nag you." Kathy replied, frowning.

"It's that damn Token who nags her." Martin said, rolling his eyes.

"He just wants me to eat healthier…" Wendy replied.

"Healthier? What's healthier than vegetables?" Audrey replied, laughing a little.

"He just likes to talk about how red meat and chicken have a lot of protein and stuff…he's just looking out for me…" Wendy said.

"Just looking out for you? Okay, right." Martin replied, scowling. He was not Token's biggest fan and everyone knew it.

"Can we not start this?" Kathy replied, biting her lip. Wendy and Martin argued about Token a lot.

"He's just not right for you, Wends. He's like a big bully and you just let him order you around." Martin said.

"You let him order you around? Wendy, what happened to feminism?" Audrey asked, genuinely shocked. She had always tried to instill feminist views in Wendy. She had started small enough, encouraging Wendy to be a doctor instead of a nurse and always telling her stories about strong women she knew. Kathy had refused to promote women's rights to Wendy, citing that it was a woman's job to make the dinner, not put it on the table. Fortunately for Audrey, Wendy had mostly listened to her. Well, at least she thought so.

"He does not order me around, okay? He tries to, but he's pretty unsuccessful. Can I get a little bit of credit here?" Wendy replied, annoyed. She knew that they were right. She definitely knew that Token was way wrong for her, but hell if she was going to admit that to her parents. She didn't want them to have that satisfaction, and she mostly didn't want to hear a loud chorus of "I told you so" from them. She knew that Token was a bully, knew that he was toxic. She had been keeping him at arm's length, trying to distance herself from their relationship. It had been alright for the first five or so months, but then Token took it upon himself to try to get her to sleep with him. Wendy had been a virgin and wasn't ready to give it up to a high school guy. She wasn't sure if she loved him at the time. When she had rejected him, he had backed off a lot. Backed off right into the arms of Heidi Turner, who had been happy to give him what he wanted. Wendy had been furious when she discovered their torrid little affair, breaking up with Token as soon as she caught them together. She had refused to even look at him for a month, but he wore her down after two and they were back together. Eventually, she stopped trying to avoid the physical aspect of the relationship and had just let it happen. They finally had sex for the first time right around spring break, and Token had been a horny bastard ever since then. They had probably only done it about a dozen times, but she still felt like that was way too many. She hadn't let him do more than kiss her since Clyde's Independence Day party when he had talked her into having sex with him in the hot tub. Wendy was apparently very agreeable when she had a few Smirnoffs in her.

"Wendy! Wendy!" Audrey said, snapping her fingers in her face.

"Sorry…maybe I am tired." Wendy replied, shaking her head and clearing her train of thought.

--

A week later, Wendy found herself on another plane. Her visit to Chicago had gone as well as she had expected it, and she had fallen in love with the city all over again. Her father had laughed at her and told her that she would probably like NYU and American way more than she liked Northwestern. Her mother had simply walked in the other room, presumably to bitch a little more about Wendy leaving South Park to Audrey. Audrey was just excited that Wendy would probably be closer to her, even going as far as telling her that she could move into her apartment if she absolutely hated the dorms. She glanced over at her mother who had yet to pass out from her Xanax. She was browsing through the Sky Mall catalog, laughing at all the weird shit they had in it. Wendy chuckled a little to herself. Sky Mall did have a lot of fucked up crap. She put her ear buds in, turned on her iPod, and drifted off to sleep.

--

Wendy woke up later on her couch. Someone had covered her up with the down comforter from her bed. Probably her mother. She sat up and glanced at the clock. It was almost 5PM. She did the math in her head. Between the time zone change, she had slept for almost nine hours. She didn't remember the flight or getting off the plane at all. Her father had probably carried her from the plane to the car and then from the driveway to the couch. She got up and walked into the kitchen, stretching every few steps. Why the hell did her body feel like she had been twisted into some kind of weird pretzel yoga position? She heard Bebe's voice before she saw her sitting at the kitchen table. She was sitting across from Wendy's mother, drinking a glass of lemonade and apparently talking about something funny. Wendy took a seat next to her and Bebe passed her a glass and the pitcher of lemonade.

"Jeez, Wendy, I thought you were going to sleep all day." Bebe said, grinning. Wendy rolled her eyes.

"Apparently the jet lag got to me…" Wendy replied, sipping her lemonade.

"I was just telling Bebe about everything in that catalog on the plane…" Kathy said, sipping her own lemonade. Wendy smiled a little.

"Mom, do we have anything stronger than lemonade?" Wendy asked, yawning.

"Wendy, what have I told you about coffee? It will stunt your growth and give you stained teeth." Kathy replied, frowning.

"I'm almost eighteen, mom. I think I'm done growing." Wendy replied, laughing a little. She got up and poured herself a cup of coffee, ignoring her mother's little sighs of disapproval.

"Hey Wendy, take me upstairs and show me all the pictures you took in Chicago! You know, the ones you texted me about." Bebe exclaimed suddenly, grabbing Wendy's arm.

"What the hell are you talking about, Bebe?" Wendy asked, genuinely confused.

"You know what I mean…of the campus…and stuff." Bebe said, emphasizing each word slowly. Wendy still didn't know what the hell she was talking about, but she took her up to her room anyway.

"What the hell are you talking about, Bebe?" she asked once they were all situated on her bed.

"I needed to talk to you alone and I didn't want your mom to hear." Bebe replied, shrugging.

"Talk to me alone…are you lezzing out or something?" Wendy asked, raising her eyebrows. Bebe kicked her.

"No…I just…Craig and I…we're having issues…" she replied, looking down.

"Issues?" Wendy asked, concerned.

"Yeah. He was being a major ass again, so I asked him why. He said something about how maybe we didn't have real feelings for each other, maybe we're just together because everyone else was together and we felt left out. That we coupled ourselves off for comfort, not because we had feelings for each other." Bebe replied, playing with a loose thread on Wendy's pillow. Hearing this just pissed Wendy off. Craig and Bebe had gotten together the day before Valentine's Day their sophomore year. Stan had been with Rebecca Cotswalds at the time, Kyle had been seeing Heidi, Wendy had been seeing Kevin, Kenny had been banging his way through the cheerleading squad, and hell, even Cartman had been dating some freshman girl. Bebe had been harboring a massive crush on him for about a year at that point and she was still licking her wounds that had come from the break-up of her six month relationship with Clyde that had ended when Christmas break had. She hadn't been actively looking to get involved with someone, but Craig had shown up on her doorstep with roses and a box of dark chocolate and she hadn't been able to resist. They had been together ever since then. In short, there was no way in hell they had just "coupled themselves off". Craig had wanted to date Bebe just as much as she had wanted to date him. Hell, he had been the one to pursue Bebe, what with the roses and chocolate.

"Craig is a fucking douche, Bebe. Plain and simple. He's a man, what do you expect?" Wendy replied, rolling her eyes.

"Why would he say something like that, though?" Bebe asked, her voice starting to shake a little.

"I don't know. He's weird sometimes." Wendy replied, genuinely puzzled by Craig's behavior. He had gone through little male PMS phases before, but he had never outright said something like that to Bebe before.

"Do you think he wants to break up with me?" Bebe asked, frowning.

"I honestly have no idea." Wendy replied, frowning right along with her.

"I think I know what this is about." Bebe said. She said it so quietly that Wendy barely heard her.

"What?" Wendy asked.

"Um…well, the day you left for Chicago, we were going to have sex. You know, when his parents went out of town to visit his grandma or great-aunt or whatever member of his family was sick and dying that day." Bebe said.

"Wait a minute…you were going to have SEX? And you didn't tell me?!" Wendy asked, incredulous. Despite her reputation, Bebe was nowhere near the whore everyone thought she was. Bebe had actually been a lot more prudish than Wendy over the years, never letting a guy go past first base. Clyde had dumped her because she wouldn't let him round second.

"Well, I told him that we could see what happened…" Bebe replied, frowning.

"Well, what happened?" Wendy asked.

"I went over there and he had a nice dinner all set out and stuff. Some kind of chicken pasta thing and one of those triple chocolate cakes from Mel's Buffet. We ate, we watched a movie, we made out on his bed. He went for third base, I freaked out, and we wound up watching another movie. I didn't think it was such a big deal…" Bebe said, shrugging.

"You freaked when he went to third base? I thought you told me like three months ago that you let him go to third base." Wendy replied, confused.

"Right, I did. But it was the whole prospect of the sex, you know? I knew that if I let him go there then…well…we would be having sex, and I didn't want to do that. I want to, but at the same time I don't think I'm ready." Bebe replied.

"I want to know how you almost had sex and failed to tell me." Wendy said, genuinely shocked that Bebe hadn't called her in the middle of the night to recount the experience.

"That's not the point. You know that Lexus girl? The one who worked at Raisins?" Bebe asked, rolling her eyes.

"You mean Lexie?" Wendy replied, smirking. Lexus had transferred to Park County High School their sophomore year. She had been calling herself Lexie, claiming that she didn't want to be stalked by horny boys who remembered her from Raisins. Luckily for her, the boys had had the memory spans of goldfish. It had been the girls who had remembered her, and they hadn't exactly welcomed her with open arms. Porsche and Mercedes had transferred in halfway through Wendy's freshman year and had learned the hard way just how bitchy girls could be.

"Whatever. She works with Craig now." Bebe said, rather bitterly. Craig had taken a summer job at J-Mart to earn extra money for college. He worked in lawn and garden . Lexus had started working there about a month after him, mostly working in the lingerie department. Lately, though, when Bebe would go to have lunch with him on his break, Lexus had been right back there stocking seeds and trying to sell patio furniture alongside Craig. He had shrugged off Bebe's curiosity, citing some bullshit lawn and garden shortage reason, but that didn't do much to calm Bebe's nerves, especially when Lexus was wearing as little of the required uniform as she could get away with

"Yeah, but Kenny works there too. And so does Clyde." Wendy pointed out.

"And she isn't sniffing around them. But she's always around Craig when I'm there. I know what she's thinking, Wendy. I can smell the lust that wafts off of that girl from a mile away." Bebe replied. Wendy tried not to laugh again. She knew what Bebe meant, though. The Raisins girls were not known for their modesty or their purity, that was for sure. That was why they had made excellent additions to the cheerleading squad.

"Even if Lexus is throwing her line out, do you really think Craig is going to bite it?" Wendy replied.

"I don't know, Wendy. I don't know what the hell his problem is lately." Bebe replied, frowning again. She was going to get permanent wrinkles if she kept that up.

"That bitch is selling what I'm not, Wendy. I know she's not a virgin." Bebe said, hooking her fingernails into Wendy's favorite throw pillow.

"Do you really think Craig is going to leave a functional relationship for a little bit of sex?" Wendy asked, unsure. Craig was the asshole type.

"Leave me? I don't know. But I wouldn't put it past him to fuck her on the side." Bebe said bitterly, digging her nails even further into the pillow.

"He's an asshole, sure, but a cheating asshole to boot?" Wendy asked, eyeing her pillow nervously.

"Why not? The best of both worlds. He would get all that girlfriend bullshit with me and hot wild monkey sex with that slut on the side." Bebe said, throwing the pillow on the floor with what was supposed to be incredible angry force. Wendy sighed in relief.

"I'm not sure what to tell you, Bebe. If he's being a total dick, you should really just break up with him." Wendy said, shrugging.

"This coming from you, the girl with the biggest asshole in South Park as a boyfriend." Bebe grumbled. She had always been anti-Token.

"Not really the point, Bebe." Wendy replied, annoyed. She knew she needed to end it with Token, but she wasn't sure how. She wasn't in love with him, per se, but she felt like if she ended things with him, he would torment her for months on end again.

"What was that? Did you just indirectly agree with me?" Bebe asked, sitting up.

"Yeah right, Bebe." Wendy replied, wondering when her unhappiness in her relationship had become so apparent to everyone else.

"No no, Wendy. You didn't correct me when I called him an asshole. Usually you get mad at me for it." Bebe said, a little too cheerily in Wendy's opinion.

"Token IS an asshole." Wendy said, shrugging. Like that wasn't common knowledge. It was the jock in him, combined with the snobbish demeanor he had picked up once his family had bought an even bigger house.

"Then why are you dating him, Wendy? I know you don't love him." Bebe said, less cheerily than before.

"How did we turn this on me? Aren't we supposed to be talking about Craig wanting to bone Lexus or whatever?" Wendy replied, hoping to steer the conversation in another direction.

"I think I'm going to dump him." Bebe said with a surprising tone of finality in her voice. Wendy raised her eyebrows. Random and unexpected, much?

"Over Lexus?" Wendy asked.

"Over Lexus, over his bullshit, over everything. I deserve better, goddammit." Bebe replied, crossing her arms.

"A few minutes ago you were worried he was going to dump you. Are you sure you want to do this?" Wendy asked, frowning. A year and a half was a long time to date someone, especially in high school. Fuck, that was the equivalent to being married. In fact, under Common Law, it probably was marriage.

"Yeah, well, I don't know." Bebe replied, frowning.

--

Rebecca Cotswolds sighed and wiped the sweat from her forehead. The air conditioning at Tweek's Coffee had been broken for three years, apparently. South Park had not experienced a heat wave in years, so Mr. Tweek had seen no reason to have it fixed. Of course, that July, temperatures had hovered close to ninety, and Mr. Tweek was out of town, leaving Mrs. Tweek to look over things. Mrs. Tweek refused to make any decisions without Mr. Tweek, so Rebecca was stuck working in the heat, surrounded by steaming coffee pots. She was seriously considering quitting her job and applying at J Mart in the frozen foods section, simply because it was nice and cool there. She looked around the coffee shop, sighing again. She only had another hour before she could close up the shop and head home. There were only two other people with her…Stan Marsh and Sally Turner, AKA Red. They were wrapped around each other in the only corner booth, oblivious to Rebecca watching them. She wasn't exactly fond of watching her ex-boyfriend and the girl he had dumped her for, but she had learned to deal with it. Their presence had become a nightly thing once school had ended, much to her annoyance. She and Stan had began dating around Thanksgiving of their freshman year of high school, right after she had talked her parents into letting her transfer to Park County High School from His Holy Name High School where her brother had begged to be sent. She had figured that Catholic school was better than home schooling, but she had learned her lesson very quickly and had begged her parents to let her the hell out. They had finally consented after two weeks of school, and she had been placed in the Honors Program with Kyle Broflovski and Wendy Testaburger. Wendy had sort of taken her under her wing, helping her make friends and such. Kyle had introduced her to Stan Marsh, and a strong mutual crush had developed. Of course, there had been complications at first. Pip Pirrup had asked her out on her third day of school, and she had accepted without even really knowing him, figuring that a boyfriend might make her transition a little easier. She had gone to Homecoming with Pip, and had wound up dancing with Stan the entire night. It was something right out of fucking Dawson's Creek, with her being the Joey and Pip being the Dawson. Stan had been the Jack, minus the closet homosexuality. Like Joey and Jack, Rebecca and Stan had finally gotten together after she and Pip had had a messy break-up. They had been very happy together, even having sex for the first time with each other about a year into their relationship. Then things had changed when Stan and Red had started working together in January of their junior year. They had become very good friends, and Rebecca had witnessed their flirting many times. She and Stan had started to fight, and he had finally dumped her over spring break, while she had been in Myrtle Beach with Bebe and her family. They hadn't really spoken since then, and Stan had started dating Red about a week afterwards. He had wound up taking her to Prom, and Rebecca had gone with her friends. She wasn't too sure why they picked her workplace to play hanky panky every single night, but it was really starting to piss her off. Of course, she pretended like she didn't care, which was hard. She wasn't supposed to care since she had another boyfriend. Butters had asked her out a few days after Prom, and she had said yes, hoping to rebound with him and get over all of her feelings for Stan. So far, that plan wasn't exactly working. She sighed and looked down at the counter, willing the clock to hurry up and get to closing time. She looked up again and met Red's eyes. Wonderful. Red smirked and kissed Stan long and hard. That was even better. Rebecca sighed and headed toward the back to start cleaning up. Maybe they would get the fuck out early so she could close up and cry before she went home.

--

Wendy threw her dirty clothes from the Chicago trip into her laundry basket and re-packed her suitcase. Her summer had been one giant plane ride. First her parents had drug her to Seattle to pick up her brother Seth from school, then they had gone to California for ten days for a vacation. Then she had had to endure a week in Florida with Jessica for a cousin's wedding, and then the Chicago trip. Now she was headed to Washington D.C. with Future Lawyers of America for the annual conference. She had to fly out with Cartman and Mandi two days earlier than everyone else because they had to attend some special panel for group leaders. Plus they had some banquet to go to too. Mandi was supposed to head over so that Seth could drive them to Denver International. Mandi and Seth were probably down in the living room at that moment, playing tonsil hockey or something. Wendy wasn't exactly sure how to feel about the two of them dating. They had only been together since spring break, but Wendy was already rooting for a break up, if only to get them to shut the hell up about each other. Mandi had been hanging around a lot more since they hooked up, even sneaking into Seth's room and taking the clothes he had left there because he asked her to. Apparently she slept in them or something…either way, it was really fucking creepy. She folded a pair of black dress pants and put them in her suitcase, hoping the hotel had a dry cleaning service. She finished packing and zipped her suitcase as she drug it towards her bedroom door. She grabbed her purse and checked the clock one last time before she headed downstairs. They had three hours before their flight left. Awesome.

--

"Seth, no way. Anyone could walk in!" Mandi Smith said to her boyfriend, Scott Testaburger. He was currently working his hand under her shirt, hoping to round second and possibly third base. It was a problem because they were on Seth's couch and his mom and sister were both upstairs. She didn't think they cared too much if she and Seth were sexually active, but she didn't think that they wanted to witness it firsthand.

"Oh come on, Mandi. Wendy is packing and my mom is asleep." Seth said, sighing.

"No! Besides, do you really want our first time to be on your couch when I have to leave for the airport right after?" Mandi asked, poking him.

"I guess not." Seth replied, sighing.

"Don't get mad, Seth. I'm not saying that it won't ever happen. I'm just saying not right now, okay?" Mandi replied, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Do you…do you not want to, Mandi?" Seth asked, looking down at her. Her eyes widened.

"What do you mean?" she asked, frowning.

"Well, you know…I mean…you and Kyren…and…" Seth replied, trailing off. Mandi rolled her eyes. She and Kyren had broken up in December. They had been together since sixth grade, but that didn't mean that she hadn't moved on. Kyren had been her first love, sure, but she hadn't had sex with him or anything. It wasn't like she had THAT strong emotional attachment to him…that made it better, right?

"We've been through this. I've dated other people since Kyren!" Mandi replied, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but…you're not a virgin, Mandi. You told me that. And I know how it is when you have sex with someone. There's some kind of weird emotional attachment that goes along with it. The girl I lost my virginity to wouldn't get off of my nuts for like a year afterwards." Seth replied.

"I didn't lose my virginity to Kyren." Mandi replied, looking down. Why did everyone assume that?

"What? Who the hell did you lose it to, then?" Seth replied, confused.

"I don't want to say. It's really embarrassing." Mandi said, not making eye contact with him.

"Oh come on. It can't be THAT bad." Seth said, poking her.

"Oh, but it is." she replied.

"Come on, Mandi. Tell me!" Seth replied, grinning.

"No!" she replied again.

"It can't be THAT bad. Who is it, your cousin?" he said, laughing.

"Dude, fuck you. I know I'm from Indiana, but come on." she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Your brother?" he asked, flinching as she smacked him.

"I'm not from Kentucky!" she said, smacking him again.

"If you don't tell me, I'm going to be forced to assume it was your cousin." he said, smirking.

"You probably assumed that one anyway." she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Which one is it? Is it the older one with the German girlfriend?" he asked, laughing.

"I'm not even dignifying that with a response." Mandi replied, shaking her head at him.

"Maybe it's that one who has the grill and is in and out of jail all the time. With the alien baby." he said, grinning again. He knew he would force it out of her eventually.

"Fuck you." she replied, standing up.

"I haven't yet, thanks. I'm trying to figure out who has, though." he replied, grinning.

"Okay, fine. You really want to know?" she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Duh I want to know!" he replied, smirking. He knew it would come out.

"Fine. It was Scott Tenorman. We dated for like two months and he wouldn't leave me alone, so we finally did it. Like, twice. That's it. Happy?" she replied, blushing.

"The dude who ate his parents?!" Seth replied, incredulous.

"Yes, the dude who ate his parents." Mandi replied, rolling her eyes.

"Isn't he way older than us, though? He was what, in ninth grade when that happened? How did you even meet him?" Seth replied, frowning. That was just fucked up.

"He's twenty-three. He got held back. Way back. We talked in high school. He was a senior when I was a freshman, and he found me on Myspace after Kyren and I broke up. It's the past. It was a mistake." Mandi replied.

"Sick." Seth replied, shaking his head.

"What?" Mandi replied, raising an eyebrow.

"What the hell kind of twenty-three year old guy scams on a teenage girl?" Seth replied.

"He did. We're dropping this." Mandi replied.

"Isn't it illegal, though?" he asked.

"Dropping it." Mandi replied, picking up her purse and starting towards the door.

"Hey, are you guys ready? And, uh, dressed?" Wendy's voice called from the top of the stairs.

"Oh sweet Jesus, Mandi! Put your bra back on before my sister gets down here!" Seth shouted, grinning.

"GROSS!" Wendy said, making a gagging noise.

"Goddammit, Seth. Yes, Wendy, it's safe. And I'm ready." Mandi replied, rolling her eyes and smacking Seth in the arm. Loser.

--

Wendy once again found herself on a plane. This time, however, she was seated next to Mandi, someone who would not pop Valium and pass out on her.

"Your brother is sick." Mandi said, interrupting her thoughts. She tried to show Wendy a text that he had sent her, but Wendy pushed her hand away.

"No, really, I'm good. You need to turn that off soon anyway." Wendy replied. Mandi just laughed.

"Ready for DC?" Mandi asked, switching her phone off.

"DC, yes. Four days of Cartman's crap? Not so much." Wendy replied, grinning.

"Same here." Mandi said, laughing.

They sat back and fastened their seatbelts as they watched the stewardess head up to the front of the plane. Four hours until they were in DC. Six if you counted the time change. Wonderful. Wendy slipped on her headphones and turned on her iPod. This would be a long flight.

--

Author's Notes: Yay, I finished it! This is dedicated to BrownSugar1, my good friend who doesn't let me slack off and leave stories unfinished. XD Also, the next chapter SHOULD be up soon…really…


	2. Dos

Author's Notes: Whoo for chapter dos! Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews on chapter one! It means a lot. I have to warn you all…I start school on Monday the 12th, and I am taking seventeen hours this semester, so you probably won't be seeing a lot of updates. I will try my best to update as often as possible, but new chapters may be few and far between. Besides, this is me we're talking about, and I suck at keeping up with multi-chaptered fics…but we'll see. Also, Seth plays hockey for University of Washington, but they don't REALLY have a hockey team…so we are going to pretend that they do, okay? Yes, I am lame enough to check out the details. Why? Because I can, goddammit. Anyway, read, enjoy, review.

--

"Why does this hotel smell so fucking bad?" Eric Cartman asked. Wendy rolled her eyes. They had just walked in and already that fat tub of lard was bitching about the smell. She couldn't believe she had to deal with him for the whole convention. The less time she spent with him, the better.

"Cartman, the hotel doesn't smell bad. You're fucking delusional." Mandi replied, rolling her eyes.

"Fuck you, bitch. It smells like ass and sweat in here." Cartman replied, making a disgusted face.

"Maybe the smell is you, asshole. Jesus, shower much?" Mandi asked, glaring at him.

"At least I don't fuck my way through the class of 2005, whore." Cartman replied, glaring right back.

"Fuck you, Cartman! I'm not fucking my way through the class of 2005." Mandi replied, looking like she was going to haul off and smack the shit out of him.

"Whatever, skank. Your little British boyfriend wasn't enough to satisfy you, so you went and found that juicy beef injection somewhere else. Not too shocking though. Everyone knows Kyren takes it in the ass anyway." Cartman replied, smirking.

"Fuck you, Cartman! You don't know what the fuck you're talking about, you fat piece of shit!" Mandi screeched, turning red.

"Oh-oh, so I hit a nerve!" Cartman replied, beaming.

"Cartman, you can fucking suck my ass. Suck it long and suck it hard, kind of like what your mother does with every penis in South Park. Including her own." Mandi replied, still red.

"And you would know a lot about sucking penis, wouldn't you, Mandi? We all know what you did with Scott Tenorman." Cartman replied.

"You have no idea what happened there, so you can shut the fuck up, Cartman." Mandi replied, rolling her eyes.

"Of course I know what happened there. He was your shoulder to cry on when Kyren decided he wanted to take it in the ass, and he somehow worked that lock on your chastity belt and popped your cherry. You're pissed because you let him. But you're also glad you did it because he introduced you to the pleasures of the flesh, and now you can't get enough of it." Cartman replied, grinning.

"I…you…fuck you!" Mandi replied, turning purple now.

"You also want to blame him for the entire thing when it was really mostly your idea. You wanted to piss that limey pussy Kyren off, so you decided to fuck some guy you barely knew. You'd like to pass that shit off as an attempted rape, but we both know that you wanted it just as much as he did. Which is disturbing, because how old is he? Like, thirty? Is that even legal?" Cartman continued, smirking some more.

"Fuck off, asshole!" Mandi replied, looking close to tears. Cartman knew how to push buttons.

"I've got your number, bitch." Cartman replied, smirking again.

"Whatever, Cartman. You don't know anything." Mandi replied, looking at the floor.

"And your little boyfriend, this one's brother? What the hell do you think he wants from you? He heard how fucking easy you are, how fast you went down on Scott Tenorman." Cartman continued, an evil little gleam in his eye.

"Shut up, you two. Jesus Christ, people are staring." Wendy replied, rolling her eyes. And people said that she and Cartman were once bad.

"That stupid whore started it." Cartman replied, glaring at Mandi.

"Mandi started it…what are you, in first grade, Cartman?" Wendy replied, rolling her eyes.

"First grade? That's like a compliment to that stupid piece of shit, Wendy." Mandi replied, texting Seth as she talked.

"What are you doing now, texting your little boyfriend so he can come and attempt to satisfy your insatiable appetite for sex?" Cartman replied, smirking again.

"Actually, I'm telling him what a fucking dick you are so that he can come and kick your ass." Mandi replied, glaring at him.

"Goddammit you two, is it going to be like this the entire goddamn trip?" Wendy replied, rubbing her temples.

"I told you, that stupid slut started it." Cartman replied, shrugging.

Wendy jumped out of the way as Mandi flew at Cartman. Wonderful.

--

Bebe tugged at her tank top as she walked towards the lawn and garden department of J-Mart. She knew that Lexus was working with Craig, and she wanted to look like the classier one, the better choice. The hot cheerleader look-alike like Lexus was, but without the herpes. Today was the day she needed to decide. She had to figure out whether or not she could salvage her relationship with Craig. She heard him before she saw him. He was laughing at something a distinctly feminine voice was saying. Probably Lexus. She rolled her eyes and walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He spun around and his grin widened.

"Hey babe. I didn't think you were coming today." he said, hugging her.

"Yeah, well, here I am." she replied, pulling away and shrugging.

"My lunch break starts in five minutes. I get an hour today because we're slow." he said, grinning at her. She snuck a peek at Lexus and saw that she was glaring at her. Fabulous.

"An hour, you say? Want to hit a drive thru and then park somewhere? Somewhere…secluded?" she asked him, looking at Lexus as she said this. Lexus rolled her eyes and went back to re-stocking garden hoses.

"Secluded? Uh, sure." Craig replied, smiling.

"Great! Meet me out front in five, okay?" Bebe replied, grinning and walking off towards the front of the store. She made sure to sway her hips a little as she walked, giving Craig a nice little show. He had always told her that he loved her ass in the skirt she was wearing.

Ten minutes later, Bebe and Craig were en route to the city park, Happy Burger take out bags between them in the car. The park was the perfect place for them to go. Since the entire town was at the pool, the park was totally empty. Heat waves did that to South Park.

"So, you look hot today." Craig said, looking over and grinning at her as he put his turn signal on.

"Thanks." Bebe replied, smiling at him. So far, she was leaning towards working things out with him.

"So before you got there, Lexie was telling me this crazy story. It was hilarious." Craig said, grinning at the mere memory of what she had said. Bebe felt the white hot dagger of anger poke her.

"I'm glad you work with such a hilarious girl. Must relieve the workplace stress." she replied, gritting her teeth. Craig didn't seem to notice.

"Oh yeah, she's great. I don't know what I would do without her there." he replied, turning into the entrance of the park.

"You would probably get a lot more work done." Bebe replied, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, probably. But who wants that?" Craig replied, grinning and parking.

"Probably your boss…" Bebe replied, taking her bag of food.

"Meh, fuck that cunt." Craig replied, grinning. Bebe rolled her eyes again.

"Good thing she doesn't hear how much you respect her." Bebe replied, eating a fry.

"Yeah yeah yeah." Craig replied, pulling the wrapper off of his burger.

"So, my parents are going out of town this weekend." Bebe said, smiling suggestively.

"Well that sucks. How long will you be gone?" Craig asked between bites of his burger.

"I'm not going. My parents are going." Bebe replied, taking a sip of her pop.

"So you'll be home alone, then?" Craig replied, finishing off his burger. Bebe rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, all alone." she replied, eating one of her chicken tenders.

"Wanna throw a party?" Craig asked, grinning.

"I was thinking just the two of us could do something. You know, alone." Bebe replied, grinning.

"Yeah, that one Smackdown is on on Saturday…we should watch it!" Craig replied. Bebe sighed and rolled her eyes. Wow, he was slower than she thought.

"Or we could do something else, Craig." she said, smiling as seductively as she knew how.

"Well, that biography of Bobby Knight is supposed to air this weekend…" he said, practically inhaling his fries.

"Or we could finish what we started last time we had a house to ourselves." Bebe said, looking down at her lap. She wasn't sure why she was being so sensitive about it, but seeing Craig and Lexus flirting had hit a nerve.

"You mean…" Craig said, his eyes widening.

"Sex. Yes, I mean sex, Craig." Bebe replied, smiling a little.

"Wow…well…wait…do you want to do it Saturday?" he asked, frowning a little.

"Yeah, that was what I was planning." Bebe replied, also frowning a little.

"Lexie wanted to get together and watch that Smackdown. She likes wrestling, you know." Craig replied, looking uncertain.

"Yeah, I'll bet she likes wrestling." Bebe mumbled.

"Huh?" Craig replied, throwing his trash in the Happy Burger bag.

"Nothing, nothing. So you would rather spend the evening with her, then?" Bebe asked, eating another chicken tender.

"I just promised her…" Craig said, frowning.

"Fine then. I'll just invite Rebecca over or something. No biggie." Bebe replied, frowning. She needed to talk to Rebecca anyway. Maybe she could help her figure out the situation since she and Stan had just been through it.

"You're mad. Why are you mad?" Craig asked, confused.

"Well, Craig…here's a hint. When your girlfriend says she wants to have sex and you tell her you would rather watch wrestling with another girl…" Bebe replied, rolling her eyes.

"Wait…are you…are you JEALOUS of Lexie?" Craig asked, his eyes widening. Bebe almost laughed.

"Jealous? She doesn't have much for me to be jealous of." Bebe replied.

"But you're…you're acting like girls act when they get jealous, Bebe." Craig replied, a clearly confused look on his face.

"What the hell does she have that I should be jealous of, Craig? Herpes? A few orgies with the entire football team under her belt?" Bebe replied, looking away.

"You're jealous!" Craig exclaimed.

"I am NOT jealous!" Bebe replied, her voice getting louder.

"Are you…do you…do you think I'm having an affair with her or something?" Craig asked.

"An affair? What are we, married?" Bebe replied, rolling her eyes.

"You are mad. Now you're acting like you don't care." Craig replied, looking genuinely confused. What the hell was up her ass?

"It doesn't matter. I'm sorry I asked you to come to my house on Saturday. You obviously have other things that you would rather do." Bebe replied, her voice quivering.

"Look, Bebe, I'm not sure what your problem is…" Craig started, genuinely confused.

"You're not sure what my problem is? You don't remember what happened last week, do you?" Bebe said, interrupting him.

"What about last week?" Craig asked, puzzled. Like he remembered. He couldn't remember what he had for breakfast. Fuck, he couldn't remember what he'd had for lunch, and he had just finished with that.

"We almost had sex, remember? And then when I said I wasn't ready, that I didn't want to go THAT far, you got all pissy. Then you told me that maybe we weren't together because we cared about each other, maybe it was just a comfort thing. How the fuck is that supposed to make me feel, Craig? And then you go off and make plans with that little slut, Lexus. Like I don't matter! So excuse me, Craig, for being a little worried about our relationship right now!" Bebe said, crying a little.

"Don't call Lexie a slut, Bebe." Craig replied, annoyed.

"Is that all you heard of my entire speech? Jesus Christ, Craig!" Bebe yelled, smacking the dashboard in frustration.

"I'm just tired of you insulting my friends, that's all." Craig replied, eyeing Bebe's fingernails. He really didn't want those in his eyes.

"Oh, so you two are friends now? I try to have a serious conversation with you about our relationship, and all you can do is talk about Lexus!" Bebe replied, seriously considering smacking the shit out of him.

"We're talking about our relationship? I thought we were talking about sex." Craig replied, frowning.

"Oh goddammit Craig, that is fucking IT! I've had it! I am fucking done with this." Bebe replied, smacking his dashboard again.

"Good, I'm done too. Want to see a movie tonight?" Craig replied.

"SEE A MOVIE? SEE A FUCKING MOVIE?" Bebe screamed.

"Yes…see a movie…" Craig replied, confused again.

"NO I DON'T WANT TO SEE A MOVIE!" Bebe screeched. A squirrel that was on a nearby park bench flinched. Craig felt sorry for him.

"Okay…we don't have to see a movie. Jesus Christ. Calm down." Craig replied.

"Do you even know what just happened?" Bebe replied, crying again. What the fuck?

"You said you don't want to see a movie. It's fine, Lexie is having a pool party anyway. I'll just go to that." Craig replied, shrugging.

"Craig, are you REALLY that fucking stupid? REALLY?" Bebe replied, her eyes widening.

"Stupid enough to go to a pool party?" Craig replied, raising his eyebrows. What the hell was she on? It was ninety degrees outside. He would be stupid NOT to go.

"I just broke up with you, you fucking moron. That's what I meant when I said I was done." Bebe replied, very slowly. As if she were speaking to a small child. A small retarded child, at that.

"Wait…we just broke up? You dumped me? Why?" Craig asked, hurt creeping into his features.

"Wow, you are way dumber than I thought, Craig. That's pretty fucking bad." Bebe replied, getting out of his car.

"Where are you going?" Craig asked.

"Um, away. That's what a break up means…I go away. Permanently." she replied, rolling her eyes.

"You're going to walk?" Craig replied, frowning.

"Yes, I'm going to walk. I don't want to be around you right now, Craig." Bebe replied, slamming the door.

"Fine then! Fucking walk!" Craig said, glaring at her.

"I've already established that I'm doing that…" Bebe replied, rolling her eyes and walking towards the road.

"Bebe, come on. We need to talk." Craig replied, getting out of the car and walking towards her.

"I tried to talk to you. All you want to do is talk about your little thrill on the side." Bebe replied, walking faster.

"Bebe, goddammit. Stop!" Craig said, jogging up to her and grabbing her shoulder.

"Take your fucking hands off of me!" Bebe screeched, smacking him.

"Jesus Christ, okay!" Craig said, backing off.

"You need to get back to work." Bebe replied, glancing at her watch.

"I don't want to go back to work. Not when we're fighting like this." Craig said, crossing his arms.

"We're not fighting, Craig. We're over. Broken up. Done." Bebe replied, rolling her eyes.

"Goddammit Bebe, please talk to me." Craig replied, starting to touch her again but changing his mind.

"You can come to my house tonight and pick up your shit, okay? I'll have it boxed for you and waiting." Bebe said. Then she turned and walked out of the park. And out of Craig's life. That too.

--

"That stupid son of a bitch. I can't believe him. I never went down on Scott Tenorman!" Mandi said, pacing back and forth in she and Wendy's shared hotel room.

"It's Cartman. He says shit to press people's buttons, Mandi." Wendy replied, rolling her eyes. She didn't feel like dealing with their bullshit.

"But it's not true! Where did he even hear that?" Mandi said, stopping to kick a chair.

"He probably made it up. Can you two just let this go? Please? I don't feel like dealing with this." Wendy replied, rubbing her temples. She felt a migraine coming.

"If your brother hears that…if he thinks I did that to Scott…I told him I wouldn't do that to him! It's disgusting! I won't do that to anyone!" Mandi said, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Okay, one, sick. I don't want to know what you and my brother do, okay? That's fucking disgusting. Two…Cartman just made that up to get to you, and it obviously worked. My brother is not going to hear about it unless you run and tell him about it. So just shut up. Jesus Christ." Wendy replied, seriously considering throwing a pillow at her. Or picking the lock on the liquor cabinet in their room. That one sounded better.

"I'm sorry if I'm bitching. Just…he hurt my feelings when he said all that. He was right. I do regret having sex with Scott. I mean, I know you don't know anything about bad relationships, but it makes me feel horrible knowing that I did that. I didn't even love Scott!" Mandi replied, actually starting to cry. Wendy sighed and tossed the box of Kleenex that was sitting on the nightstand between their two beds at her.

"I'm sorry, Mandi. Cartman is a dick. He will say anything to make you cry." Wendy replied, shrugging. What could she really say?

"And Kyren isn't even gay. I don't know why everyone says that about him. It's not right." Mandi replied, crying even more. Fuck.

"Don't worry about what he says about Kyren. You guys broke up awhile ago. Screw him." Wendy replied, not wanting to trample through that obvious minefield. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Mandi still had some unresolved feelings there.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry for falling apart like this. It's just…he really gets to me. He says all of these horrible things about people and it's like no one cares. He's such a bastard." Mandi replied, wiping her eyes with one of the Kleenexes.

Before she could respond, Wendy's cell phone started blaring "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler, which was her ring tone for Bebe. It was a lame inside joke between them. They didn't actually like the godawful movie that the stupid song was from.

"It's Bebe, I have to take this." Wendy said to Mandi as she walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

"That's okay, I'll just…"Mandi replied, the rest of what she was saying becoming muffled as Wendy shut the bathroom door.

"Hey. Thank God you called." Wendy said, answering her phone.

"Wendy?" Bebe asked, her voice sounding weird.

"Yeah…are you okay?" Wendy replied, concerned.

"I just broke up with Craig." Bebe replied, sounding uncertain.

"You broke up with him?" Wendy asked, shocked.

"Yes, I broke up with him. He's an asshole." Bebe replied, bitterness evident in her voice.

"Oh…wow…" Wendy replied, not sure what to say.

"I don't know what to do now." Bebe said.

"What do you mean? You move on…" Wendy replied, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I mean…I left my purse in his car. I had my phone in the pocket of my skirt. My car keys are in my purse and I'm kind of stuck by the park." Bebe replied.

"He made you walk?!" Wendy asked, incredulous.

"Well, he didn't make me. I sort of got out of his car and told him to leave me alone after we broke up." Bebe replied.

"Wait…so you're by the park?" Wendy asked, trying to piece the whole story together.

"Yeah, we went to the park to eat lunch and talk, and then we had a fight…" Bebe said, sounding close to tears again.

"Maybe you should start from the beginning…" Wendy said, sighing and taking a seat on the floor. This would take awhile.

"Well, this is what happened…" Bebe said, starting the story.

--

Jessica Testaburger had finally convinced her brother to take her to J-Mart. It was under the guise of getting ice cream, but Seth knew better. He had dropped her off in front of the main doors and told her to hurry the hell up, but they both knew he was just kidding. He had nothing better to do since his girlfriend was in DC with Wendy. She pulled out her compact and did a quick make-up check. Perfect. She already knew that before she looked, but she needed that quick little self-esteem boost. She stopped off in the women's bathroom at the front of the store before she headed to her destination. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. She had put her hair into two pigtails, but now she was starting to re-think it. It made her look too young. She unbraided her hair quickly and brushed it out with her fingers. It had a nice wave to it, but she knew that it would eventually frizz out. Sighing, she pulled it back into a high ponytail. Very bouncy, very cute. She did a quick outfit check next. She had chosen a pink spaghetti strap top that showed off her tan and jean shorts. The shorts weren't TOO short. She didn't want to come off as easy, after all. Though she supposed he might appreciate her more if she were easy. But Jessica didn't want to be super easy. Jessica wanted to be a challenge. She re-applied her cherry flavored lip gloss and did a quick cleavage adjustment. Perfect. She tossed her hair back in that way that only cheerleaders had perfected and sashayed out of the bathroom and towards the food aisles. She knew that he would be stocking cans somewhere near there, and she wanted to talk to him. He was, after all, the reason she had gone to J-Mart. Fuck the ice cream, she wanted a cone of Kenny. As she got closer, however, she realized that she would need to grab something to make it look like she hadn't just gone there to talk to him. That made her look way too desperate. She grabbed a jar of mayonnaise that was on display next to her and a pair of gardening gloves that were laying next to the mayonnaise. Perfect. She tossed her hair again as she caught sight of Kenny near the health and beauty aisle. God, he looked hot. She walked right past him, pretending not to notice. Then she did a faux double take and walked back towards him. He didn't notice.

"Kenny! Hey, I didn't know you worked here." she said, smiling. Kenny just raised an eyebrow at her.

"Really? That's funny…I've told you about five different times that I do. I even brought you an application once, didn't I?" he replied, smirking. Shit.

"Oh…well…I guess it must have slipped my mind." she replied, grinning.

"So…you're buying…gardening gloves and mayonnaise." he said, eyeing the things in her hands. He shook his head. He really didn't want to know what the hell people did with their purchases once they left the store. Some of them were just too fucked up for him to even attempt to wrap his mind around.

"Yeah…my mom…she needed, uh…these gloves. And the mayonnaise for her…uh…for her athlete's foot." Jessica replied, staring at the athlete's foot cream that Kenny was stocking.

"Mayonnaise for her athlete's foot? Really?" Kenny replied, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, uh…home remedy." Jessica replied, shrugging. Fuck, she was stupid.

"This might work a little bit better, don't you think?" Kenny replied, holding up a tube of the cream.

"Oh, you know my mom. She's into those home remedies, you know." Jessica replied, turning red. Fuck, she was REALLY stupid. Like he really wanted to hear about fucking athlete's foot.

"So is that all you're going to buy?" he asked, going back to stocking the cream.

"Oh, well, I thought I might buy some ice cream." she said, shrugging. Shit, why did she say that? Now he was going to think she was a fat cow who ate all the goddamn time. Wonderful.

"Ice cream? Really?" he asked, looking at her legs. Shit, he was probably checking out how fat her thighs were.

"Oh, well, I'm not sure. Maybe not." she replied, feeling self-conscious.

"I didn't take you for an ice cream kind of girl. You're way too skinny for that." he replied, grinning. She relaxed.

"I like ice cream." she replied, grinning flirtatiously.

"Well, if you like ice cream, then I guess I'll have to take you to get some tonight." he replied, winking. She blushed hardcore.

"Tonight? What time?" she asked, trying to hold in her squeal.

"Oh, I don't know. I'll get there when I get there. Could be five, could be six. Could be eight. But it's probably going to be around seven." he said, winking.

"Well, hopefully I'll be home. See you then. Maybe." she replied, turning and walking off, making sure to wiggle her ass a little. She knew he was watching. Katie would kill her for getting a date with her older brother, but Jessica didn't care. Kenny was amazing. She definitely had it bad. She grinned all the way up to the checkout lane where she saw her brother. He was buying chocolate syrup and condoms, and she wasn't about to ask. She put her stuff down before he saw her and walked up to him, still grinning.

"Where's your ice cream?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"What ice cream?" she asked, confused.

"Nevermind." he replied, rolling his eyes. He knew it was some boy thing.

--

Stan Marsh plopped down on the towel next to his girlfriend, Red. He knew she was going to smack him for getting her wet, but he didn't care. She was cute when she got mad at him. Instead of getting mad, however, she sat up and grinned at him.

"Having fun swimming?" she asked, taking her sunglasses off.

"Yeah, the water is great. You should get in." he replied, wondering how the girl who had called him at nine that morning, begging him to spend the day at the pool with her could sunbathe all day.

"Maybe later. I need to work on my tan." she replied.

"But it's so hot…" Stan replied, shocked. It was supposed to reach ninety-four, which was a record for South Park. Everyone who didn't have their own pool had flocked to the South Park city one. It hadn't even gotten up to eighty-five the summer before, but he and Rebecca had still been at the pool every single day, having diving contests and playing games. Kyle and his then girlfriend had gone with them a few times, but his girlfriend had always wanted to work on her tan. Rebecca had always made fun of her for it. Rebecca had had a better tan than anyone at the pool and she hadn't even tried. Stan had always found that hilarious.

"What are you thinking about? You're smiling." Red said, crashing his train of thought. Shit, he couldn't tell Red about his Rebecca thoughts. She would just read too much into it and get pissed at him. She didn't want him to even think about Rebecca. She was still pretty insecure about their relationship. So insecure that she insisted on dragging Stan to Tweek's Coffee whenever she could so that she could make sure Rebecca saw them together. She said it was something about marking her territory, but Stan just thought it was stupid and that it probably hurt Rebecca's feelings. He could see the look in her eyes whenever he touched Red in her presence.

"Oh, you know. Just you." he replied, hoping that would be a good enough save.

"Aww, Stanny, you're such a sweetheart." Red replied, blushing.

"I try." he replied, grinning and shrugging.

"It's why I love you." Red said, laying back on her towel. A white hot dagger of panic pierced Stan's heart. Love?

"Did you just…?" he asked, after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, I did." Red replied, smiling softly. Holy shit, she was serious. They hadn't been together for very long, though. They had only started becoming friends in January when his manager at Shaky's Pizza had hired her and he had been the one to train her. He hadn't meant to develop feelings for her, but he had anyway. Rebecca hadn't been too happy when he had started hanging out with Red outside of school and work, but she had never openly told him that he couldn't see her. He had finally gotten the courage to break up with Rebecca over spring break, when she had been in Myrtle Beach with Bebe and Bebe's parents. He had done it over the phone, but he had still done it. Kyle had called him a pussy for taking the easy way out and calling her, but he didn't care. He and Red had started officially dating a couple of weeks later, and they had gone to Prom together, despite the fact that he had already promised Rebecca that he would go with her. Rebecca hadn't been too happy with that one either, but it didn't matter. He and Red had probably been together three and half months so far, but she was already dropping L bombs. That just made Stan nervous. He didn't know how he felt…

--

After about an hour, Bebe had finally finished telling Wendy the harrowing tale of her break-up with Craig. Wendy wasn't sure what to say.

"It's not like I said those things about Lexus just to be a bitch. I mean, a girl like her has a reputation for a reason, right?" Bebe asked, her frown evident in her voice.

"Yeah, I guess…" Wendy said, still unsure about what to say or do. Bebe sounded like she could take back her decision at any second and she didn't want to steer her back to Craig. Just as she was about to try to say something else, her phone rang. Caller ID told her that it was her sister, so she told Bebe that she would call her back and clicked over. Before she could say anything, her sister started talking.

"I have a date with him tonight!" she exclaimed.

"With who?" Wendy asked, confused. She wasn't aware of any crushes of Jessica's.

"Kenny! Kenny McCormick!" Jessica replied, sounding like she was ready to burst.

"Kenny asked you out?" Wendy replied, genuinely shocked. And somewhat appalled. She knew that Kenny had his reputation for a reason too.

"Yes, Kenny asked me out! Can you believe it? What should I wear?" Jessica replied, giggling like an idiot.

"Um…Jessica…look who we're talking about. You shouldn't wear anything because you shouldn't go. He is way too old for you!" Wendy replied, her mother streak showing. She could almost hear Jessica roll her eyes.

"Oh please, Wendy. He's not THAT much older than me. It's just two years!" Jessica exclaimed.

"And that two years is a lot when you're in high school!" Wendy replied.

"Mandi and Seth have two years between them." Jessica replied.

"And no one ever said it was a good idea for them to date, did they?" Wendy replied, rolling her eyes. Plus it was a little different with those two. Mandi was officially eighteen as of two weeks before the DC trip and Seth wouldn't be twenty until December. Mandi wasn't a stupid fifteen-year old girl with a crush on the school's official manwhore.

"But no one tries to stop them! Now come on, help me. What should I wear?" Jessica asked, desperate for her older sister's help. Wendy sighed very loudly.

"Goddammit, Jessica. You don't need to go out with Kenny McCormick. He only wants one thing from you, and you don't need to give up your virginity to him. He's a manwhore and you are going to get pig herpes from him!" Wendy replied, seriously wanting to go through the phone and hit her sister in the head.

"God, Wendy, you are so negative. Kenny likes me for me, not for what's in my pants. I'm sorry I called you to ask for your help. I can figure this out for myself." Jessica replied, quite icily. She hung up the phone, resisting the urge to throw it at the wall.

"Kenny? Kenny McCormick?" Seth asked, walking in the room. Jessica jumped about three feet in the air.

"God, Seth, give me a heart attack, why don't you?" she asked, clutching her chest. Seth ignored her.

"Answer my question. Kenny McCormick?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh God, not you too!" Jessica replied, putting her hands on her hips.

"You have no business going out with him." Seth said, sitting down on her bed.

"What is so wrong with Kenny?" Jessica asked, rolling her eyes.

"He uses girls for sex. He'll go out with you, get in your pants, and then dump you." Seth replied.

"He will not! Kenny likes me!" Jessica replied.

"Yeah, I think not. You don't need to go out with him, Jess. I don't want you to do something you regret and then get hurt. You're too young for that shit." Seth replied, playing with a pillow on her bed.

"And what are you going to do? You can't stop me." Jessica replied, raising her eyebrows.

"No, I can't stop you personally. I can tell the parental units about Kenny, though. I doubt Mom would like her baby going out with a dirty pervert such as Kenny McCormick." Seth replied, grinning.

"I also doubt Mom would appreciate the fact that her precious baby boy was fucking his girlfriend on every surface of our house." Jessica replied, a glint in her eye.

"No, probably not. That's why I'm not." Seth replied, shrugging.

"But can you prove it? I mean, I think she might believe me over you. I walked into the living room and saw you two going at it on the couch, and now I'm scarred for life…" Jessica replied, narrowing her eyes.

"She'll never believe you." Seth replied, looking nervous. Oh yes she would. Even though it wasn't true.

"I can also tell her about the condoms and the chocolate syrup." Jessica said, smirking.

"How did you know about those?" Seth replied, looking shocked.

"I have eyes, dumbass." Jessica replied, rolling said eyes.

--

It had taken four hours, but Bebe had finally found everything of Craig's that was in her house. Everything from his old football jersey that she slept in to a few CD's and DVD's he had left there. She boxed it all up and labeled it, and sent Craig a text message to remind him that she wanted him to pick it up. He needed to drop by anyway since her purse was still in his car and her car was still in the J-Mart parking lot since her keys were in her purse. Lovely. She knew he got off at five, so she made sure that everything was ready by then. She sat down in her living room, channel surfing and waiting for him to haul his ass over. She hoped he wouldn't stop to get her things from his house. She had always made sure that she didn't leave things at his house. She was sensible like that, Besides, they hardly ever spent time at his house. It was always either at hers or out somewhere. At 5:15, he pulled into her driveway. She picked up the box and walked outside to greet him. She peeked inside her car and saw that Lexus was actually sitting in his front seat. Asshole. She bit her tongue to keep from screaming and handed him the box.

"Thanks." he said, looking down.

"Um…I left my purse in your car earlier. It has my keys in it." she replied, glancing at the front seat of his car. Lexus waved at her.

"Oh, uh, about her…" Craig said, turning red.

"I don't care, Craig." Bebe said, approaching his car. She saw her purse on the passenger side floor.

"Hey Bebe." Lexus said cheerily. Bebe rolled her eyes.

"Can you hand me the purse on the floor, please, Lexus?" Bebe asked. Lexus handed it to her through the open window.

"Here you go. And it's Lexie, Bebe." Lexus said, smiling.

"Thanks, Lexus." Bebe replied, walking back to her front door.

"Bebe, wait!" Craig said. She turned around just as she was about to open the door.

"What?" she asked, annoyed.

"What about your stuff?" Craig asked, a pained look on his face.

"You don't have anything of mine. I made sure of that." Bebe replied icily. She turned back around and went into her house, tossing a dirty look over her shoulder at Lexus before she slammed her front door. It took five minutes for Craig to back out of her driveway, but he finally did. She sat down on her couch and sighed. That hadn't been as hard as she thought it would. She was definitely better off.

--

Jessica glanced over at Kenny in the driver's side of the car. He grinned at her, and she blushed. It had taken awhile, but she had finally managed to persuade her mom into letting her go on the date. Seth had kept his mouth shut after she told him that she knew about the handcuffs too. In reality, she hadn't actually known that, she had just made that up. Apparently it was true, though. Seth had walked off, mumbling something about locking his door when he wasn't home. She hadn't seen him or heard from him since then.

"So, what do you want to do?" Kenny asked, glancing at her.

"I thought we were having ice cream?" she asked, smiling.

"Well, that was my clever way of asking you out. Obviously it worked." he replied, grinning at her in a way that sent shivers down her spine. Holy shit.

"I don't care. What do people usually do on dates?" she asked. Shit, that was probably bad. Now she was going to make herself look inexperienced.

"Well, how about we start with dinner?" he asked, grinning.

"Sounds good to me." she said, smiling back at him. He reached over and took her hand, and her heart almost beat itself out of her chest.

"How does Casa Bonita sound?" he asked her boobs.

"That place in Denver with the cliff divers?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's pretty sweet." he replied.

"I used to go there a lot when I was a kid." she replied, smiling. It had been a monthly thing for her family, back when Seth and Wendy weren't so busy.

"Oh yeah? That's cool." he replied, moving his hand to her bare knee. She had traded her shorts in for a skirt before the date and had changed into a lavender floral print short-sleeved blouse. To look better for the date, of course. He slowly worked his hand up to her thigh before she took his hand again. He just laughed at her.

--

Eric Cartman struggled to stay awake. He'd had a long day of training bullshit and now his semi-girlfriend, Heidi, wanted to talk to him about her day. Heidi was one of those people who never had anything exciting to her, so it was usually hard for Cartman to pay attention or care when she talked about it. Tonight, however, it was hard to stay awake.

"Are you listening to me?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

"Of course I am. Your grandma is in Florida, right?" Cartman asked, praying that that was what she had been talking about. He didn't want her to be pissed off at him again. Withholding sex was just torture.

"Okay…I guess you were listening…kind of." she replied, sounding less annoyed.

"Yeah babe, I always listen to you." he said, crossing his fingers. Well, it was half true. They weren't really dating anyway. They went out sometimes, but they were mostly just friends with benefits. They'd kept that arrangement since Prom when she had been his last resort date and he had found out that she was willing to have sex with him. Everyone else thought they were together, including Heidi herself. He had explained to her countless times that they were just friends with a nice benefits package, but the bitch wouldn't listen to him.

"Anyway, I went shoe shopping too." she said, starting another story. He rolled his eyes. Jesus Christ.

--

After Casa Bonita, Kenny had taken Jessica out for ice cream like he had promised her. He said she looked like she could use the extra calories because she was way too skinny. The heat had died down considerably by the time they finished eating, so when Jessica had suggested a walk in the park, Kenny had agreed. He had been less likely to have a heat stroke, after all. They had walked around for an hour, talking about school and life and other random stuff. By the time he took her home, he was sure that he would be getting something from her. He walked her to her door, hoping to at least kiss her.

"Well, I had a good time tonight." she said shyly, playing with a strand of her hair.

"Yeah, it was fun." he said, grinning.

"Well…maybe we can do it again sometime?" she said, not meeting his eyes. Aww, she was shy. That was adorable.

"Of course, babe. How about Friday night?" he asked, caressing her cheek. She practically melted into his touch. God, this girl wanted him bad.

"Friday night? That sounds good." she said, smiling.

He moved his hand from her cheek to her hair and stroked it. Then he leaned in and kissed her cheek. She pulled back and stared at him, confused.

"I don't want to rush things." he said, smiling at her. She smiled back."Oh…okay." she replied, grinning.

"Well, goodnight, Jess." he said, turning to leave. He walked out to his car and started it up, waiting until she was safely inside her house before backing out of her driveway. This one was going to be so easy. He gave it two months before he was in her panties.

--

Author's Notes: Haha, Kenny is a dirty, perverted bastard. How shocking, huh? Wendy's terrible mistake will come a little later. The next chapter is going to be the first day of school and beyond, so I'm skipping ahead about a month. They are going to start school on August 30th, then Wendy is going to make her mistake right around Homecoming, which will be in October. So chapter three, as I said, is the first day of school and beyond. Homecoming will probably be the fourth or fifth chapter, and then we'll have Wendy dealing with her mistake. This chapter will probably wind up being about twelve to fourteen chapters long, but that could change. Hopefully I will have a chance to update this soon.


	3. Tres

Author's Notes: Yay, I'm on three. Somehow. Hooray for random inspiration? We've skipped ahead about a month in this chapter, as it's the first day of school, which is August 30, 2006. Again with the story being set in the 2006-2007 school year. If you don't like it…well, I really don't give a rat's ass, now do I? In the month since the last chapter, Kenny and Jessica have had a few dates but they are not an official couple, Wendy and Token are still together, Bebe and Craig are still broken up, Heidi and Cartman are still doing their sex thing, Stan and Red are still together, Butters and Rebecca are still together, and Seth is back in Seattle, although he and Mandi are still together. I am introducing Janae Taylor in this chapter, and she belongs to Brown Sugar1, as does her boyfriend, Derrick Hartman. Mandi's younger sister, Desirae, will also make a guest appearance. She's the same age as Jessica and Katie. I will get to Homecoming and Wendy's mistake soon, so you bitches can just be patient, okay? Anyway, as always, review when you're finished reading, goddammit. Oh, and I have to warn you now…there's teenage drinking in this chapter. It happens, we all did it, so again, you can get over it, okay? Now…enjoy!

--

Wendy sighed as she looked her schedule over. AP Calculus, AP English Lit, AP Biology, Orchestra, Lunch, AP Government, AP Psychology, and AP Spanish V. Six AP classes, wonderful. She had taken a few before, of course. Chemistry, physics, English comp, and US History her junior year, and world history and Brit Lit her sophomore year. She had gotten all fours on the tests, but she had worked really hard for them. Second semester wouldn't be much better, as AP Psych would be switched to AP Micro Econ. That would make seven AP tests for her. She checked her watch. It was 7:10 AM. School started at 7:35 and Jessica was taking her sweet fucking time.

"Jessica, you have three minutes and I'm gone!" Wendy called upstairs. She was probably up there straightening her hair or waxing her legs or something else stupid and time consuming. Ever since she and Kenny had started dating, she'd been even more vain, which was saying a lot.

"School doesn't even start for like, twenty minutes! It's only a four minute drive!" Jessica said, coming down the stairs. Yup, her hair was straightened and it shone like glass. She tossed it over her shoulder and smiled at Wendy. She had that bitchy cheerleader thing down, that was for sure.

"And I'm your ride. If you want, you can catch the bus. Or better yet, you can walk. It's better for the environment." Wendy said, grabbing her backpack and keys.

"Yeah, if it's so much better for the environment, then why do YOU drive?" Jessica asked, checking her reflection in her compact. Nevermind the fact that she had JUST spent an hour in the bathroom perfecting her make-up and hair.

"Because I'm always stuck at school until after dark with student council and debate. Walking home alone at night is a nice way to get raped." Wendy replied, slipping on her jacket. The heat wave had left South Park and the temperature was back down to a downright balmy fifty-four degrees.

"Whatever." Jessica replied, running out to Wendy's Saturn, a gift from her parents on her sixteenth birthday. Jessica was looking forward to her birthday because she knew she would get one too. She pulled out her compact again and checked her lip gloss as she climbed into the front seat.

"Jesus Christ, Jessica. How much time do you spend looking at yourself in the mirror?" Wendy asked, getting in the car and rolling her eyes. Jessica rolled her eyes right back.

"Maybe you should start caring a little more about your appearance and less about everything else." Jessica replied, giving Wendy a pointed look. Wendy self-consciously ran a hand through her hair. She had taken the time to tame it that morning, and she thought the loose curls worked for her. She glanced over at her sister's outfit and saw tight low rise jeans and an aqua Henley shirt. She compared it to her own purple and yellow tye-dyed t-shirt and old jeans. Whatever, she thought she looked good. Jessica was just being a bitch. She started the car and drove towards school, not saying anything when Jessica turned some annoying hip hop station on.

--

Mandi pulled into Janae Taylor's driveway and waited patiently, just as she did every other morning. Mandi drove on even days and Janae drove on odd ones. It was their way of saving gas, plus they got to hang out every single morning. They had become friends when Janae had moved to South Park from Maryland towards the end of fourth grade. Mandi had still been relatively new, and she had been happy to take Janae under her wing. Kyren had shown up shortly after Janae had, and they had become a sort of threesome, always hanging out and working on projects together. Sometimes they picked up Rebecca too, but lately she had been carpooling with Butters. She had joined the three of them sometimes, but since her break-up with Stan, she had been distant. Janae opened up her front door, tossed a casual goodbye over her shoulder to whoever happened to be home, walked out to Mandi's car, and got inside.

"Hey." she said, closing the door.

"You look happy." Mandi replied, grinning and backing out of the driveway.

"I spent my entire summer sleeping in. Now I have to get up at 6:30 in the morning again, and that shit just doesn't work." Janae replied, taking a bite out of a cereal bar she had pulled out of her purse.

"At least it's senior year." Mandi said, smiling.

"Goddamn, why are you so cheerful this morning?" Janae asked, raising her eyebrows at her best friend. Usually Mandi was lethargic. Today she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. It wasn't normal.

"Seth called me right as my alarm clock went off this morning. Isn't that sweet?" Mandi gushed, grinning. Janae rolled her eyes. Mandi and Seth together were disgusting. Not in the way that Mandi and Scott had been, though. Mandi and Scott had been disgusting in a "What the fuck, is this legal?" kind of way. Mandi and Seth were just disgusting in that they were always gushing about each other or making out in front of people. Janae missed Mandi and Kyren…Kyrandi. They hadn't touched each other very much. They had obviously been in love, but they didn't torture people with it.

"That's lame, Mandi." Janae replied.

"Oh whatever. You're just pissed because your boyfriend doesn't do nice things like that for you." Mandi replied, putting on her turn signal and turning onto Pine Street.

"If my boyfriend called me that early in the morning, I would cuss him out." Janae replied, finishing her cereal bar off.

"Oh whatever. You would be totally happy if Derrick did something like that for you." Mandi replied. Janae was dating Derrick Hartman, a guy from Northwest Park. She had met him at some party at the beginning of the summer. He resembled Cartman a lot, in everything from looks to personality. The only difference was that Derrick was black and Cartman was white. Derrick was also slightly less of an asshole than Cartman. Mandi thought it was creepy and that it proved that Janae had a secret boner for Cartman, but Janae just told her to shut her goddamn mouth whenever she brought it up. Derrick was a year older than them and attending a community college in Denver.

"No, not really." Janae replied. What the hell was Mandi on lately? She had never allowed Kyren to make big romantic gestures. She had gotten mad if Kyren had even tried to hold her hand in public.

"I think you would love it." Mandi replied, turning onto Main Street.

"I think I'm tired of hearing this already." Janae replied, pulling a small bottle of apple juice out of her purse and taking a sip.

"Fine then. So how's your schedule?" Mandi asked, turning onto Fairplay's Main Street.

"It's lame. French, AP English, AP Bio, Trig, Lunch, Sociology, AP Psychology, and Government. I still don't remember why you talked me into all those fucking AP classes." Janae replied, pulling out her schedule and showing it to Mandi.

"Because they look good on college applications, silly." Mandi replied, turning into the Park County High School parking lot. She would be in six AP classes herself, three of which she had with Janae.

"So, you're going to be seeing a lot of Kyren." Janae said, hoping to keep Mandi from mentioning Seth again.

"Of course I'm going to be seeing a lot of Kyren." Mandi replied, pulling into a parking space near the front door.

"I mean you'll have a lot of classes together, right?" Janae asked. Mandi turned off the engine, but kept her hands on the steering wheel.

"I don't know. Maybe." she replied, tightening her grip.

"I didn't really see him that much this summer. I wonder how he is." Janae said, sneaking a glance at Mandi from the corner of her eye.

"His parents sent him to London, I guess." she replied, finally letting go of the steering wheel and unfastening her seatbelt. Janae unfastened hers as well.

"London? And you guys didn't talk at all?" Janae asked, surprised. Mandi and Kyren had managed to maintain a stable friendship since they had broken up.

"Not really." Mandi replied, opening her door and grabbing her backpack before climbing out and slamming the door. She pressed the lock button for the doors on her key ring and started walking towards the doors. Janae followed suit.

"Not even on your birthday?" Janae asked, finally catching up to Mandi. Mandi's birthday had been in July.

"He sent an e-mail." Mandi replied, opening the door and starting towards the senior hallway. Janae trailed after her until they reached their lockers, which were right next to each other. Mandi opened hers up and threw her bag in it. Her sudden hostility told Janae that she didn't want to talk about Kyren. She decided to talk about Seth again since Mandi loved that subject.

"So, when do you get to see your lover boy again?" Janae asked, turning her locker dial.

"Kyren isn't my lover boy, Janae." Mandi replied, giving her a dirty look.

"I was talking about Seth, dude." Janae replied, opening her locker. Shit, there WERE some deep feelings there.

"Oh. I'm flying out there Friday after school, remember? Labor Day weekend." Mandi replied, hoisting her purse up and shutting her locker.

"Oh yeah. That's sweet. I can't believe your parents are letting you do that." Janae replied, digging in her backpack for her French workbook that she was supposed to study over the summer. She hadn't, of course. She was willing to bet that no one had.

"My parents can't really stop me. I'm eighteen and I made the money for my plane ticket all by myself." Mandi replied. Mandi had been working at Whistlin' Willy's Pizza since their sophomore year of high school. She was a birthday party hostess, but she also wore the costume on occasion. She made pretty good money for a part time job and her hours were great. Plus she always got huge tips from the parents.

"But are your parents mad about you going?" Janae asked, frowning. Mandi's mom had loved Kyren and had been very upset when Mandi had ended things with him. Mandi's dad preferred Seth because he played hockey. Both of her parents had hated Scott.

"Well, my mom keeps reminding me to take my birth control on time and my dad wants to come with me so we can stay in a hotel. I think they are afraid I'm going out there for hot monkey sex." Mandi replied, rolling her eyes. Her mom had more or less forced her to start taking birth control when she hit eighth grade, even though she had never had sex with anyone until Scott Tenorman had found his way into her panties. She and her dad had instituted a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy when it came to anything sexual. It was easier for her dad to live in denial about his daughter's sexual activity because he had moved to Denver following he and Mandi's mom's divorce when Mandi had been in fifth grade. Mandi still saw him all the time, but not living under the same roof still kept him in the dark about a lot of things when it came to Mandi and her brother and sister.

"But they aren't mad? They aren't yelling at you about it?" Janae asked, shocked.

"Nope. They trust my judgment and my ability to have an abortion if necessary." Mandi replied, grinning. Janae just rolled her eyes.

--

"Guess who." a voice whispered in Wendy's ear. Then a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. She could only hope it was Token.

"Hmm…Cartman?" she asked, grinning to herself.

"Cartman? What the fuck, Wendy?" Token asked, spinning her around so she could look at his face.

"Oh, I just assumed it was Cartman. That's his new way of greeting me." Wendy replied, rolling her eyes.

"Oh it is, is it? Do I need to go beat his ass?" Token asked, frowning. Leave it to him to take her seriously when she was kidding.

"You, beating Cartman's ass? Please." Wendy replied, turning back to her locker. Token may have been one of the biggest guys in the school, standing at about 6'2" and weighing in close to 220 pounds, most of it muscle, but Cartman was still stronger than him. Token lifted weights and played football, but he was still one of the weaker ones on the team. Cartman had actually grown into his body once they had hit puberty. He was two inches shorter than Token, but he had about fifteen pounds on him. He also played on the Park County High School hockey and lacrosse teams. He was captain of the hockey team, in fact. He had been since Seth had graduated. He didn't really have much fat on him, but the fat jokes lived on. He could still eat like an elephant, but pretty much every calorie that went into his body got burned off somehow.

"You don't think I can take him?" Token asked, raising an eyebrow. Wendy rolled her eyes at him.

"I don't think anyone can take him." Wendy said, shrugging. It was true.

"You mean besides you?" Token asked.

"Jesus, not that again. I'm not talking about things that happened years ago, Token." Wendy replied, rolling her eyes again.

"Whatever, fuck that fat piece of shit. He's not what I came over here to discuss." Token replied, putting his arms around Wendy again. Wendy was about to reply when Bebe hurried over in an angry frenzy, glaring behind her and she walked. Wendy raised her eyebrows.

"That son of a bitch is actually dating that fucking whore, Wendy!" Bebe said, clenching her fists.

"What son of a bitch and what whore?" Wendy asked, unwrapping Token's arms from her waist and placing a comforting hand on Bebe's shoulder.

"Fucking Craig!" Bebe replied, kicking at Wendy's locker. Why did she always have to take her anger out through violence?

"That would be my cue to leave. We'll finish this later." Token said, glancing at Wendy and walking away.

"What did Craig do?" Wendy asked, frowning.

"Just look at what he's doing right now!" Bebe replied, pointing down the hall, behind Wendy. Wendy turned around and looked. Craig had Lexus pinned against her locker, kissing her neck.

"Holy shit. Maybe you were right." Wendy replied, her eyes wide.

"I fucking knew it! Jesus Christ, the fucking nerve!" Bebe replied, glaring at Lexus. Lexus chose that moment to open up her eyes and wink at Bebe. Wendy placed her hand on Bebe's arm as if to hold her back.

"Who cares? You dumped his sorry ass. Let him get pig herpes or syphilis. It's his own fault." Wendy replied, rolling her eyes at Lexus and Craig.

"You know what? You're right. Craig's a stupid dick. Besides, I can do better. I can find someone else." Bebe said, crossing her arms and turning away from Craig and Lexus's soft core porn scene.

"Exactly. You can find someone more mature. Someone who isn't going to be HIV-positive in a few months." Wendy replied, reaching into her purse and grabbing a bottle of water.

"I mean, just look at all of these freshmen. They are hot, aren't they?" Bebe replied, eyeing a few as they walked by.

"Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson." Wendy replied, rolling her eyes and taking a sip of her water. Bebe just laughed.

"Seriously, though. I am not going to sit around and let Craig have all the fun." Bebe replied.

"So…don't let him have all the fun." Wendy replied, not exactly sure what Bebe meant by that statement. Maybe she wanted to lez out with Lexus.

"I'm going to get back into dating. I'll find a boyfriend. And goddammit, I will not let Craig and Lexus ruin my senior year with their tonsil hockey bullshit. Fuck them both." Bebe said, stomping her foot.

"Fuck them both? Are you talking literally?" Wendy asked, raising her eyebrow. Bebe swatted her lightly.

"Shut up, I'm serious!" Bebe replied.

"Yeah, so am I." Wendy said, rubbing where Bebe had hit her.

"I'm done with high school guys, though. From now on I'm only going to date older men." Bebe said.

"Older men? Like married men in their forties?" Wendy asked, confused.

"No, like college guys. Jesus, Wendy, work with me here." Bebe replied.

"College guys?" Wendy asked, still confused. Where the hell was their conversation trying to go?

"You're supposed to be the smart one, Wendy. I date older guys because guys mature slower than girls do. I'm mature now, so I have to date a guy two or three years older so he's on my maturity level. Get it?" Bebe asked, rolling her eyes.

"My brother is two years older and he's nowhere near mature." Wendy replied.

"Your brother is an exception to every rule." Bebe said, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe you should date him, then." Wendy said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Bebe smacked her again.

"Sick!" she replied. Wendy laughed.

--

"You smell so good." Red said into Stan's neck. He wasn't sure how she could smell anything with her entire body wrapped around his and her nose pretty much smashed against his skin, but whatever.

"Yeah?" he asked, trying to pull away from her a bit. He really didn't want to wind up making out up against her locker, and that was exactly what was about to happen.

"Yeah." she replied, kissing his neck. His eyes almost rolled back into his head and he got dizzy for a second.

"Red…no. Not here." he managed to gasp out as her lips found his earlobe.

"Why not?" she whispered into his ear. It made him shudder in absolute pleasure.

"Anyone could just walk by." he replied, finally gathering up the willpower to pull himself away from her. She pouted.

"We never get any alone time." she said, her lower lip jutting out.

"Dude, we spent the entire summer alone together. I saw Kyle like, four times!" Stan replied. That was a lie. Kyle had hung around them constantly. Stan hadn't minded, but evidently Red didn't like watching them play video games. But he and Red had had those nights at Tweek's Coffee where Rebecca had bored holes into his head with that hurt look of hers. It wasn't even a glare, it was just a look. A look that made Stan wish for a glare and maybe a swift kick in the nuts because that would hurt way less.

"And you zone out all the time too! What's your deal?" Red asked, her hand on her hip. Evidently she had been bitching for a few minutes. Stan had been lost in his own thoughts.

"What? Nothing. The bell is about to ring. I'll see you later." Stan replied, literally running off down the hall.

--

"Come on, Cartman. Just come over tonight, okay?" Heidi asked. No, more like begged. Cartman sighed and resisted the urge to smack the bitch across the face.

"I can't." he replied, not bothering to give a reason. It was the twentieth fucking time she'd asked him and the twentieth fucking time he'd said no. He didn't want to meet her fucking family, he didn't want to eat dinner at her house, and he didn't want her to think of him as anything more than a good fuck.

"Come on. Everyone already thinks we're together." she said, running a hand through her newly cropped brown hair. Before, it had hung almost to her waist. Now it was at her chin.

"We are together. A few nights a week." he replied, grabbing his trig notebook.

"What if I want more?" Heidi asked, playing with her hair again. If she couldn't keep her fucking hands out of it, she should have just shaved it off.

"I don't." he replied, shrugging. What more did the bitch want from him? He kept her moaning whenever they did spend time together.

"But I love you." she replied, looking at the floor. Fuck.

"No." he said, brushing her off.

"Yes." she replied, frowning.

"No." he said, rolling his eyes.

"Goddammit Cartman, yes. I love you. I want to be your girlfriend. I want us to go to dances together and I want you to come and meet my parents. I want us to do all of those bullshit things that couples do, like bake cookies or watch TV or whatever. I just want us to be official. The entire fucking school already thinks we're together anyway." she replied, crossing her arms and looking him right in the face. She was done playing coy. She knew what she wanted, and she was going to get it.

"Bitch, what did I say? I'm not your boyfriend." Cartman replied, stomping off. She kicked a locker in anger and caused a group of freshmen girls to squeal and run off. Goddammit.

--

Wendy slammed her locker door and walked to the Debate Team room. She was hoping to avoid Token. He had been an asshole to her since that morning, and she didn't need to hear his bitching. She rolled her eyes as her phone made a dinging noise, signaling a text message. She pulled out her phone and read it.

"Hey Wendy, r u mad me?" it said. It was from Token. She snapped her phone shut and chose to ignore the message. She didn't have time for Token and his chat speak. If he wanted to talk to her, he knew where to find her. As she twisted the doorknob to the Debate room, a voice made her jump.

"Who are you ignoring?" Cartman's voice asked. She resisted the urge to backhand him.

"Cartman, you fucking jackass. Why are you sneaking up on me?" she asked, irritated.

"I'm not sneaking up on you, bitch. Jesus, you need to be more aware of your surroundings." he replied, smirking at her.

"Whatever. And I'm not ignoring anyone." she replied, walking into the Debate room.

"You snapped your phone shut like you're pissed. Token?" he asked, following her into the room.

"No." she replied, taking a seat at one of the tables.

"Liar." he replied, sitting right next to her.

"Goddammit, Cartman. I'm not in the mood for this." Wendy said, taking out her Debate folder and looking through papers.

"You're never in the mood for it. What are you, perpetually PMSing?" he asked.

"Fuck you." Wendy replied calmly, not even looking up from the paper she was reading. She was used to his bullshit. Mostly.

"Come on, I know you want to talk about it. What did that black asshole Token do now?" Cartman asked, his voice taking a gentle tone. Wendy's head snapped up at this.

"Why do you even care?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I don't, really. But who the hell else can you talk to? They'll just say 'I told you so' and you know it." he said.

"And you won't?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, because I never told you that Token was an asshole." he replied, shrugging.

"You just called him a black asshole." she said.

"He is a black asshole." Cartman replied.

"So you called him an asshole." she said, rolling her eyes.

"No no, I called him a black asshole. There's a difference." Cartman replied, waving his hand.

"But you think he's an asshole." Wendy replied.

"Well, yeah, of course I do. That one goes without saying." he said.

"So, in reality, you couldn't give me advice or something. You already think he's a dick. So really, all you can do is agree with me. Just like everyone else." she said, going back to the paper she had been reading.

"But I wouldn't be a jackass about it." he replied, grinning.

"You're a jackass about everything, Cartman." she replied.

"Whatever, skank. See if I ever try to be nice to you again!" he said, getting up and stomping angrily to the other side of the room. Wendy just rolled her eyes.

"That was you being nice? Calling my boyfriend an asshole?" she asked.

"Your boyfriend is an asshole. And you're a fucking whore, bitch!" Cartman replied, stomping off into the hall. Wendy caught bits and pieces of what he muttered to himself. A lot of stuff about how she was a dirty slut and a skank. Oh, and a hippie. How shocking. She rolled her eyes and went back to reading the paper in front of her. She needed to figure out how to recruit new members to the Debate Team, and she was not going to let her co-captain get to her. Douche.

--

Jessica finished towel drying her hair and walked back into the main area of the girls' locker room. She had just finished cheerleading practice, and she was ready to go home and die. Varsity was definitely harder than the freshman squad. As she walked to her locker, she could see that her best friend, Katie McCormick, was sitting on one of the benches, flipping through an issue of Cosmo. She closed the magazine when she heard Jessica open her locker.

"My brother is waiting for us outside. He wanted to come in, but I told him he would make the sex offenders' list for sure if he did." Katie said, putting the magazine in her bag.

"Your brother is waiting? Oh my God, I'm a mess!" Jessica said, running to the mirror. Her hair was wet AND it was curling like it did when she hadn't brushed it yet. Plus she had no make-up on.

"Chill. Jesus." Katie replied, rolling her eyes.

"I look like shit, Katie! He can't see me like this!" Jessica replied, digging through her bag for her straightener. She couldn't find it, which probably meant that she had left it at home. Shit!

"He sees me every single morning like this and he hasn't died from it yet. Well, okay, he did twice…but it was a total coincidence." Katie replied.

"Yeah, well, you're his sister." Jessica replied. Kenny and Jessica had somehow managed to keep their relationship a secret from Katie, and Jessica was actually afraid to tell her.

"And you're my best friend. So you're just like his little sister. Only…not." Katie replied, shrugging. Jessica mentally gagged. She really hoped Kenny didn't treat his actual little sister like he treated her…the idea of his tongue in Katie's mouth…gross.

"No, I'm not like his little sister." Jessica replied, brushing her hair out. She would just have to put it in a bun and hope for the best. Maybe Kenny wouldn't notice how shitty she looked.

"Oh my God. How did I fail to notice this before?" Katie asked, her eyes widening. Jessica's eyes widened as well.

"What? What are you noticing?" Jessica asked, mentally scrolling through everything that she and Kenny had done and any way that Katie may have figured it out.

"Oh man, I am so stupid for not noticing this earlier!" Katie replied, shaking her head.

"What?" Jessica asked, scared.

"It explains SO much! You always have to look perfect when you know my brother will be around. When he drives us home, you always find excuses for him to drop ME off first. You always act nervous when you see him…" Katie said.

"What? I do not!" Jessica replied, blushing. She didn't mention that Kenny was the one who found reasons to ditch Katie first and that she was nervous around him because she was scared to death that Katie would figure it out.

"Oh yes you do. And I know why." Katie replied, her eyes shining.

"Katie, before you get mad…" Jessica said; ready to defend herself if necessary.

"Mad? Why would I get mad? You having a boner for my brother is funny!" Katie replied, laughing.

"What? A boner? I do not have a boner!" Jessica replied, blushing.

"Oh yes you do. It's so obvious." Katie said, still laughing.

"It's not funny." Jessica replied, her voice sounding very small. That could be the laryngitis she was developing from screaming cheers for an hour, though.

"Oh, it's funny. It's hilarious. Now hurry the hell up." Katie replied, walking out into the hall. Jessica hurriedly applied mascara, eye liner, and shiny pink lip gloss. She did a quick mirror check and then ran into the hallway, hoping to God Katie hadn't said anything to Kenny.

"Took you long enough." Kenny said, standing up from where he had been slouching against the wall. Jessica smiled.

"Sorry…had to shower and stuff." Jessica replied, shrugging.

"Yeah, she had to look perfect for her lover boy, you know." Katie replied, smirking. Jessica shot her a death glare.

"Lover boy? You told her?" Kenny asked, his eyes widening.

"Wait…told me what?" Katie asked, glancing from Jessica to Kenny.

"Nothing, nothing." Jessica replied. She shot Kenny a look that clearly said "Keep your goddamn mouth shut".

"We might as well tell her, Jess." Kenny replied, putting his arm around Jessica. Fuck.

"You mean…you two…SICK! FUCKING SICK!" Katie exclaimed.

"It's not sick. Your thing with Clyde? That was sick." Kenny replied, pulling Jessica closer.

"I never had a thing with Clyde, you thick headed fucktard. I tutored him in fucking math." Katie replied, gritting her teeth. She was really sick of her whore of a brother insinuating that she was just as much of a slut as he was. The only reason she spent any time with the retarded guys in South Park was because she got paid to tutor them. She was number one in her class, but she was also a certified genius. Even though she had just finished her first day of sophomore year, she was technically a senior with all of her credits. She had been taking classes at the community college since the beginning of summer, which was probably why she failed to notice Kenny and Jessica sneaking around behind her back.

"Whatever. I'll date who I want to date, Katie." Kenny replied, rolling his eyes and taking Jessica's hand. They walked quickly to the doors, leaving Katie to trail behind them. Jessica shot several apologetic looks over her shoulder at Katie, which Katie ignored.

"This is almost like incest!" Katie said. Kenny and Jessica ignored her. Dicks.

--

Bebe slammed her bedroom door and threw her bag on her bed. Her day hadn't been bad, per se, but she was sick of watching Craig and Lexus go at it in the halls. It was just sick. She sat down in her computer chair and scooted in to her desk. She hadn't checked her Myspace for a few days, so she decided to do that before opening up her e-mail. She went to the Myspace homepage and logged in. She saw that she had new picture comments, new messages, and a new friend request. She went to the picture comments first. They were comments on pictures she had taken at the last pool party of the summer and they were from Mandi. All of the pictures with comments were pictures of Mandi and Seth. One of them was Seth throwing Mandi into the pool, one was Seth hoisting Mandi onto his shoulders, and one was the two of them sitting together on a towel. The last one was actually kind of sweet. Bebe smiled. She was glad someone was happy in their relationship. Even if it was a weird pairing. She checked her friend requests next. She only had one, from a guy who looked vaguely familiar. His display name was Scott or Something. He had red hair, freckles, and glasses. She went to his profile and saw that he was twenty-three. Kind of weird, but he was sort of hot. She accepted his request and moved on to her messages. She had one from Wendy, asking her about her profile song, one from her cousin in Dayton asking about life, and one from the Scott guy. She opened Wendy's first, sent a quick reply with the name of her profile song, and moved on to her cousin's. She told her that school was good, she had dumped Craig, and that life was generally good. She and her cousin weren't very close anyway. She moved on to the one from Scott. His message basically said that he had found her through Millie's profile and that he thought she was cute and hoped that they could be friends. Oh, and that she might remember him from high school because he had graduated her freshman year. His name was Scott Tenorman. She froze when she read that. She was kind of supposed to hate him for what he did to Mandi, but she never really met the kid. She had just heard Mandi bitch about it for a month and then she had moved on to Seth. At the end of the message, Scott included his screen name. Bebe decided to sign into AIM and see if he was on, just to see what he was about. She added his screen name, Scotty2Hotty, to her buddy list. She saw that he was online and decided to IM him right away. "Hey…this is Bebe. You added me on Myspace." she typed. She hesitated over the enter key, but hit it anyway.

"Oh, hey. I didn't think you would actually talk to me." he replied.

"Really? Why did you think that?" she asked.

"This is going to sound weird, but I think you're really pretty. Girls like you don't go for guys like me." he replied. Bebe blushed.

"Oh stop it. I am not." she replied.

"Oh yes you are. Anyway, I'm glad you decided to IM me. I read your profile, and you seem like a really cool girl." he said. She smiled.

"Thank you. I'm reading yours right now. You seem nice too." she typed back. She thought about adding a smiley face, but decided that that might be overkill. She also went to his Myspace page so she wasn't a liar. She found out that he went to college in Denver, that he worked in a pet shop, and that he had his own apartment. Nice, nice, and nice.

"Oh yeah? Good. I'm glad you're reading it." he replied. She hesitated to ask her next question, but she knew she needed to.

"There are…rumors about you." she said.

"Yeah, I know…" he replied.

"That Millie's baby is yours and that you like to hit on high school girls." she replied. Millie had had a baby the summer between their freshman and sophomore years of high school, a baby boy, to be exact. Scott had dated her for a few months freshman year, so everyone just assumed that it was his. Bebe had only seen the kid one time, and it sort of looked like Scott. It looked more like Millie than anyone, though. Millie had even named the kid Scott, but no one had ever bothered to do a paternity test, mostly because Millie's parents hated Scott and would rather their grandchild be a bastard than have Scott as a father. Millie had left school halfway through sophomore year to do a homebound program, and no one had really heard from her since then.

"That kid is not my son." Scott replied.

"And Billie Jean is not your lover, right?" Bebe asked, smiling in spite of the subject at hand.

"Haha, no. Billie Jean is not my lover. And neither is Millie." Scott replied.

"Do you go around breaking young girls' hearts?" Bebe asked, laughing to herself.

"No, but everyone seems to think that I do." Scott replied.

"Like Mandi?" Bebe asked. She knew they had to go there eventually.

"Mandi was a mistake." Scott replied.

"Is the story true, though? That you talked her into having sex with you?" Bebe asked.

"Haha, is that what she told you?" Scott replied.

"No, she doesn't really talk about it. Her sister spread some rumors, though." Bebe replied. Mandi wasn't her friend, per se, but she wasn't going to badmouth her to her ex. Besides, Mandi really hadn't said much. Just that it was over. Her sister Desirae was the one who called Scott a cherry popping pedophile.

"Figures. I didn't talk her into doing anything. Believe me, she wanted to do it." Scott replied.

"Okay, I believe you." Bebe replied, smiling.

"Really? Wow, that was easy." Scott said.

"So, I have to ask…" Bebe said.

"Oh God. There's more? Can't we just go on a date?" Scott asked. Bebe was shocked. He moved fast.

"Haha, shush. It's about your screen name…Scotty2Hotty? Really?" Bebe asked, smirking to herself.

"Yeah…my first girlfriend made this name for me like eight years ago. It's a hassle to change it." he replied.

"Ohhh, I see." Bebe replied.

"So, how about that date?" Scott asked.

"You move fast, don't you?" Bebe replied, smiling to herself.

"Oh come on. You know that you want to have dinner with me." Scott replied.

"Dinner? It's a little early for dinner." Bebe replied, glancing at the clock. It was barely 4PM.

"That's why we meet at six." Scott replied.

"It's a school night." Bebe said.

"So we won't stay out late. It's just dinner. We can go somewhere in South Park so it's less of a drive for you." he replied. Bebe wasn't sure what to say.

"I don't know what to say…" Bebe replied. Hey, it was true.

"Just say yes." Scott said.

"I just broke up with my boyfriend a few weeks ago…" Bebe replied.

"So? No one says we have to get married. It's just a date." Scott replied. He did have a point.

"Where do you want to meet?" she asked.

"Shakey's Pizza?" he asked.

"6PM?" she said.

"It's a date." he replied. She smiled.

--

Two days later, Mandi's plane touched down in Seattle. She was shocked that she had been able to find a flight from Denver to Seattle that was only $135. She chose not to question it. As soon as she turned her cell phone back on, she saw that she had four missed calls, all of them from Scott. When she walked out into the main terminal, she saw him sitting on a bench by a coffee shop. He was messing with his phone, probably wondering where the hell she was. A quick glance at the clock above his head told her that she was about thirty minutes later than she had told him she would be. As she got closer to him, she saw that he had a bouquet of blue daisies sitting next to him. She smiled and sat down next to him.

"Waiting for someone?" she asked, smiling. He looked up and grinned.

"Oh, nah. I just like to hang out in airports." he said, handing her the flowers.

"Aww, you shouldn't have." she said, grinning.

"Yeah, well, I thought it might be step one in getting into your pants, you know." he replied, winking at her. She rolled her eyes.

"You're such a tool." she said.

"You love me anyway." he replied.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." she replied, grinning. They hadn't really used the L word at that point, so it kind of shocked her. Before she could say something, he stood up and pulled her to her feet.

"Come on. Let's get some food." he said. Mandi thought she heard his stomach growl.

"Lead the way." she replied, taking his hand. He smiled at her.

"Good to have you here, by the way." he said.

"Yeah, nice to see you too, I guess." she replied, grinning. She had missed him, but she didn't know if it was okay to admit it or not. They had only been together since March.

"I missed you, you know." he said, hugging her. Okay, now she could admit it.

"I missed you too." she mumbled into his shirt. He kissed the top of her head and pulled away from her. They walked hand in hand to his car, grinning like idiots the entire way there.

--

While Mandi and Seth kicked it in Seattle, Bebe and Wendy got ready for Token's annual back to school party. They were in Bebe's bathroom, doing their hair. Wendy was twisting hers into some kind of complicated twisty updo, and Bebe was French braiding hers. Wendy had chosen a knee-length denim skirt and a pink peasant top for the evening. Bebe had chosen a purple sundress with pink flowers. Bebe's cell phone kept receiving texts, and it was starting to get on Wendy's nerves. Especially since Bebe would smile and giggle whenever she would receive the texts. Wendy hoped to God it wasn't Craig texting her.

"Who the hell keeps sending you messages?" Wendy demanded, glaring at Bebe's phone.

"Oh…no one. Just…a friend." Bebe replied, grinning.

"Yeah, just a friend. I'm sure you smile like that when Mandi or Rebecca sends you a message." Wendy replied, rolling her eyes.

"Speaking of Mandi…she's in Seattle, right?" Bebe asked, finishing up with her hair and pulling out a tube of mascara.

"I guess. Unless her plane crashed and burned somewhere. Why?" Wendy replied, spraying her hair with some hairspray.

"No reason…I just don't think she would be too happy with my date." Bebe replied, applying the mascara.

"You have a date?" Wendy asked, putting down the hairspray and looking at Bebe.

"Well…sort of." Bebe said, digging through the pile of cosmetics on the counter and finding purple sparkly eye shadow.

"Who is it? And why would Mandi have a problem with it?" Wendy asked, going back to messing with her hair.

"Because she dated him. I just don't want her to be pissy." Bebe replied, applying the eye shadow. Wendy stopped messing with her hair and turned to face Bebe.

"You're going with KYREN? Kyren? Really?" Wendy asked, her eyes widening.

"What? No." Bebe replied, raising her eyebrows at Wendy.

"Mandi has one other ex-boyfriend, Bebe. It better not be who I think it is." Wendy replied, grabbing Bebe's arm.

"Well, it is who you think it is. Unless you're thinking someone other than Scott Tenorman." Bebe replied, pulling her arm out of Wendy's grip.

"Is he who keeps sending you messages? Sick, Bebe! He's like, twenty-seven!" Wendy replied, completely disgusted.

"He is not! He's twenty-three." Bebe replied, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, I was off by a few years. Either way, it's creepy!" Wendy replied.

"It is not." Bebe replied, digging through the pile of make-up for lip gloss.

"I'm calling Chris Hansen." Wendy replied, going back to her hair.

"Oh shut up. It's not that much of an age difference. I'm almost eighteen." Bebe replied, spraying herself with some perfume.

"You'll be eighteen in January, Bebe. It's not even September yet. And even then, it's still weird." Wendy said, spraying her hair with hairspray again.

"This really isn't debatable, Wendy. We already had one date on Wednesday night. He's a nice guy and he doesn't deserve the bad reputation he has." Bebe replied, giving herself the once over in the mirror. She frowned and turned around, looking at her backside. She felt like she had gained a little weight since her break-up with Craig.

"First of all, stop looking at your ass like that. Yes, you did gain weight, but it was probably four pounds, tops. You look better. Second…what about all those rumors about Millie's baby being Scott's?" Wendy asked, applying the mascara that Bebe had tossed onto the counter. Bebe stopped frowning at her reflection in the mirror.

"You know how people are, Wendy. Scott says that baby isn't his." Bebe replied. At that moment, she decided that a French braid was not the way to go. She began unbraiding her hair.

"And you believe him? Because men never deny paternity." Wendy replied, rolling her eyes.

"I believe him because I know that Millie is sort of a slut, you know? She always has been." Bebe said, still unbraiding.

"Still, they should at least go on Maury or something first. You know, make sure that kid really isn't his." Wendy replied. She frowned at Bebe's hair. Why did she always take it down when it looked good? She grabbed Bebe's shoulder and guided her to the toilet. When Bebe tried to protest, Wendy shot her a dirty look. Bebe sighed and sat down on the lid. Wendy grabbed a brush and began brushing Bebe's hair out.

"Can you just let me go on my date, please?" Bebe asked, sighing.

"Bebe, you know that's not possible. I lived with Seth all summer, okay? All he did was bitch about how Scott was such a bastard for what he did to Mandi." Wendy replied.

"Scott said that the whole sex thing was Mandi's idea, not his." Bebe replied. Wendy stopped trying to be gentle and instead started de-tangling Bebe's hair as hard as possible. Bebe flinched.

"Yeah, I'm sure it was ALL her. I watched that girl fall apart in a hotel in DC over that. I think he pressured her into it, just like he's going to try to pressure YOU into it." Wendy said, pulling Bebe's hair a little harder. Bebe squealed.

"Do you HAVE to do that?" Bebe asked, gritting her teeth.

"Somehow I think this makes you pay attention just a little bit better." Wendy replied. Bebe rolled her eyes.

--

Two hours later, Token's house was packed. The air was filled with that smell of smoke, beer, sex, and perfume that only parties seem to have. Token was trying to play good host and suck up to his girlfriend at the same time, but it wasn't working too well. He kept getting pulled off in random directions. Rebecca had arrived just before the crowd had, and she was watching Token run around like a headless chicken. It was quite amusing. She looked around, wondering where her boyfriend was. She had sent him off to get her a drink ten minutes before, and he still hadn't returned. Something bright caught her eye from across the room. She watched the lime green shape, trying to figure out who it was. Finally, she saw that it was just Red in some sparkly party get-up. She sighed. She knew it was a long shot, but she had been hoping that Red and Stan would opt to stay in. She was suddenly very proud of her black party dress. It was definitely not eye-catching like Red's, so maybe Stan and Red wouldn't see her. She was just about to go look for Butters when she felt someone plop down on the couch next to her. She casually glanced over and saw that it was Stan, and he didn't seem like he was lost. He smiled at her as they made eye contact.

"Hey." he said, smiling at her. Smiling at her as if nothing had happened between them. She smiled back, albeit tensely.

"Hi." she replied, breaking the eye contact and looking down.

"How have you been?" Stan asked.

"Oh…um…good. What about you?" she replied, turning her gaze back to Red. She didn't seem like she missed Stan too much.

"Okay, you know. How was your first week of school?" he asked, staring at her intently. She blushed, and she silently thanked God that Stan couldn't tell the difference in the dark.

"It was good, I guess. AP classes suck." she replied, shrugging.

"Yeah, I remember how much you would stress out about those tests." Stan replied, grinning. She flinched. What the hell, why was he bringing up the past?

"Yeah. So, um, how was your week?" she asked, hoping to steer him out of Memoryville and back into You Have a Fucking Girlfriend City.

"It was good. Football is kicking my ass and I know I'm going to have trouble with my classes." he replied.

"What are you going to have trouble with? Maybe I can tutor you." she said. Then she gasped because she realized what she had said. Shit.

"Really? That would be great!" he replied, his eyes lighting up.

"Um…well…I can help you find a tutor, I mean. Or Mr. Mackey could." she replied, mentally kicking herself for even volunteering to tutor him.

"Oh. I always learned better with you." he replied, his face falling.

"That's because I always rewarded you when you did things right." she replied, blushing at the mere memory. Why was she bringing up their past sex life?

"It was a very effective reward system. You might have to use it again if you tutor me." Stan replied, smiling. He was well aware that he was treading on dangerous grounds.

"I'm sure Butters and Red would LOVE that." Rebecca replied.

"Butters is a fucking pussy." Stan replied, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah? Well Red is a bitch." Rebecca replied, annoyed.

"Yeah, I know." Stan said, shrugging. Rebecca stifled a giggle.

"Okay, Stan, seriously. What do you want?" Rebecca said.

"I just saw you over here and I thought I should say hello. I miss talking to you…" Stan replied, frowning. Rebecca frowned as well.

"Stan, I wanted us to be friends when things ended. You're the one who wouldn't talk to me…" Rebecca replied.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't because I didn't care. I don't want you to hate me." Stan replied, scooting closer to her.

"I could never hate you." Rebecca replied. She knew she couldn't. She had tried very hard.

Butters chose that moment to return with Rebecca's beer. His features hardened when he saw Stan sitting next to her.

"Here." he said, handing Rebecca her beer. She glanced at Stan nervously.

"Thanks, hon." she replied, smiling at Butters. He looked down at Stan expectantly.

"What?" Stan asked.

"What are you two doing?" Butters asked, frowning.

"Relax, we're just talking. Jesus." Stan replied, rolling his eyes.

"We were just talking…the conversation is over now. Stan needs a tutor, and he thought I might be able to help him find one." Rebecca replied, taking a sip of her beer.

"Oh…well, heck, Stan, I can probably help you." Butters replied, suddenly smiling again. Stan rolled his eyes.

"Thanks Butters, but I'm good." he replied, walking off. He changed his mind after a few seconds and came back. "I'll call you sometime, okay?" he said to Rebecca. Then he really walked off.

"Now what in the heck was that about?" Butters asked, frowning at Rebecca. She just shrugged.

--

Red had had three beers and one shot of vodka. She wasn't drunk, per se, but she definitely wasn't feeling any pain. She went to the bathroom to fix her hair. Luckily for her, Token's house had about fifty of them, so there were no lines. She took her brush from her purse and began to work through the few tangles that had built up in her hair over the course of the two hours that she had been there. She re-applied her eye make-up and stepped back to survey her work. Her hair was bouncy and full of life again and her eye make-up was flawless. She pulled at the hem of her dress. She wasn't sure why she had let Annie talk her into wearing the god-awful thing, but Annie had wanted to match, so Red had caved. Annie had found the stupid things at the closing sale of some store in Denver. They were day-glo colored sequined strapless dresses that hit right above their knees. Red's was lime green and Annie's was hot pink. It wasn't something Red would normally wear, but she was trying to be someone else for the night. Specifically, she wanted to be more like Rebecca. She checked her hair one last time before leaving to find Stan. She wanted to find an empty room and show him how in love with him she was.

--

Stan sighed and sulked at Token's kitchen table. He had no one to talk to. Kyle had opted to stay home from the party because his mom wanted him to study, Cartman was off boning Heidi in the hot tub, Kenny was making out with Wendy's little sister, and he wasn't sure where the hell Red was. He felt guilty just thinking Red's name. He knew she wouldn't like him talked to Rebecca, but he couldn't help himself. He had seen her from across the room, and it was like they were the only two people in the entire crowded party. She had been sitting by herself on one of the couches in the living room, probably waiting around for Butters. Her dress had been modest compared to the others at the party, but she had still looked more beautiful than any other girl there. He was glad that he had gotten to talk to her, even though Butters had interrupted them. He sighed. He wished he had never broken up with her. Red definitely wasn't the girl she had been when they started working together. He finished his beer in one gulp and walked over to the keg to fill himself another cup. As he was reaching for the tap, he felt someone wrap their arms around him from behind.

"Hey there." a voice slurred into his ear. His heart hoped it was Rebecca, but his head told him that Rebecca never drank enough to slur.

"Hey, you." he said, turning around and embracing the red-headed girl behind him.

"Do you want to get a room?" she asked, smiling up at him. He froze.

"A room? For what?" he asked. Then he mentally kicked himself. It was obvious what she wanted.

"I want to show you how much I care about you. I want to make your wildest fantasies come true tonight." she whispered into his ear. He raised his eyebrows.

"How much have you had to drink?" he asked.

"I'm buzzed enough to know that I want to do this and sober enough for you not to feel guilty." she replied, grinning.

"Red…" he started to say, but she stopped him by finding the spot that made his eyes roll back into his head on his neck.

"Shush. Come on, Stan. Like I said…I'm going to make your wildest fantasies come true tonight." she replied, moving her lips up to his earlobe. Stan simply took her hand and led her to the nearest empty bedroom. He didn't have the heart to tell her that Rebecca had already fulfilled any sexual desire he would ever have.

--

Bebe glanced at her watch. It was 11:30 PM. Scott had promised to meet her at 11:00. She sighed and checked her phone for the fiftieth time. It was getting cold outside and she was starting to feel like he was standing her up. She heard the patio door slide shut behind her and saw someone lay down in the hammock from the corner of her eye. She turned around to see who had joined her and saw Desirae Smith, Mandi's little sister.

"Hey." Desirae said, sitting up. She looked more than a little tipsy.

"You okay over there?" Bebe asked, raising an eyebrow. Desirae almost toppled out of the hammock, but Bebe saw her nod.

"Just a little too much tequila." she replied, giggling. Bebe rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you a little young to be hitting the bottle?" Bebe asked, frowning. Desirae was in Jessica's grade, so she couldn't be older than sixteen.

"I didn't hit it that hard." Jessica replied.

"Yeah, I'm sure you just stumble around like this all the time, right?" Bebe asked.

"Goddamn, man, shut up. You're killing my buzz." Desirae replied, rolling her eyes. Bebe laughed.

"Fine. So did your sister make it to Seattle alright?" Bebe asked.

"I guess so. She's probably tangled up in Seth's sheets right now." Desirae replied, lying back in the hammock.

"They're pretty serious, huh?" Bebe asked.

"I don't know. She and Kyren were supposedly pretty serious, but look how well that shit turned out." Desirae replied, rolling her eyes.

"True." Bebe said. They were quiet for a few minutes. Bebe began to wonder if Desirae had fallen asleep.

"What are you doing out here, anyway?" Desirae asked, breaking the silence.

"Just…waiting for someone." Bebe replied.

"Oh yeah? Who?" Desirae asked, sitting up.

Scott's car pulled into the driveway at that second. Desirae squinted in the bright headlights, trying to see who it was. Bebe watched as her facial expression changed from curious to disbelief to outright disgust as Scott walked across the yard and onto the patio. Desirae gave Bebe a "What the FUCK?" look.

"Hey. Sorry I'm late." Scott said, patting Bebe's arm in an awkward way. She grinned at him.

"No problem. I thought you were bailing on me." she replied.

"Bail? And miss all this fun?" Scott replied, his eyes going up and down Bebe's body. Bebe didn't notice at all.

"I see you're still trolling the playground for dates." Desirae said, glaring at Scott. He rolled his eyes.

"I see you're still as unpleasant as ever." Scott replied.

"Tell me, how does it feel to be a pedophile, Scott? Did you leave my sister because she was getting closer to eighteen? Needed to trade her in for a younger model, huh?" Desirae replied, taking a few steps towards Scott.

"Stop it." Bebe said, grabbing Scott's arm. He immediately laced his fingers through hers.

"Desirae?" a voice called through the patio door. A voice with a soft British accent. The door slid open and Kyren stepped outside.

"I needed some air." Desirae said, still glaring at Scott. Kyren looked in the direction of Desirae's glare. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh…Scott…I didn't think you would be here." he replied, frowning. Scott tensed.

"I'm just here to pick up Bebe, man." Scott replied, shrugging. Kyren nodded.

"I see…" he replied, staring at Bebe and Scott's intertwined hands. Bebe felt him judging her.

"Fucking disgusting, isn't it, Kyren? He can't date girls his own fucking age!" Desirae said, still glaring at Scott. If looks could kill…

"Desirae, how much did you have to drink?" Kyren asked, sighing.

"Not enough for me to be nice to this fucking sicko." Desirae replied, gesturing towards Scott.

"Desirae…" Kyren said, grabbing her arm. She shook him off.

"What are you going to do, con Bebe into giving up her virginity to you too? And then run off? Like you did to Mandi? Like you did to Millie?" Desirae said, gritting her teeth. Kyren glanced from Scott to Desirae nervously.

"Both were willing participants, Des. I didn't do anything that they didn't want to do." Scott replied, shrugging. Kyren shot Scott a dirty look, but kept his mouth closed.

"You are so not worth my fucking time. I'm getting out of here before he decides to fucking rape me too." Desirae said, whirling around and walking towards the door.

"Sorry about all this." Kyren said, mostly to Bebe. He turned around and followed Desirae inside the house. Right before Desirae opened the door, she turned back around.

"Bebe, be careful. He probably has HIV and fucking pig herpes." Desirae said. Scott chuckled. Kyren ushered her inside and shut the door, shooting an apologetic look over his shoulder at Bebe.

"Wow." Bebe said once they were inside. Scott laughed.

"Wow indeed." he replied, grinning.

"So…" Bebe said, not sure what to say after what Desirae had slurred at Scott.

"Want to get out of here?" Scott asked. Bebe smiled.

"Lead the way." she replied.

--

The next morning, Wendy awoke in one of Token's guest bedrooms. She had given up trying to end the party at around 3AM and had instead decided to lock herself in the room and get some sleep. Her head was throbbing, but it wasn't from a hangover. A quick glance in the mirror told her that her updo was to blame. She carefully worked the knots out of her hair with the brush she had in her purse. When her hair was finally tame, she pulled it into a loose ponytail and decided to look around for Token. The bedrooms on the floor she was on were all empty, so she headed to the second floor. She discovered Cartman and Heidi in one of the rooms and accidentally woke Cartman up ("Shut the fucking door, you stupid bitch!") and Stan and Red in another. Cartman and Heidi had been fully clothed in the bed, but Stan and Red were naked. Wendy had to suppress the urge to laugh when she saw their clothes scattered all over the room. She shut the door carefully and went downstairs. She found Token passed out on one of the couches. She briefly considered waking him up, but realized that he would just bitch at her to make him some pancakes and find aspirin for his hangover. She was not in the mood to deal with his bullshit. She was NEVER in the mood to deal with his bullshit, really. She grabbed her shoes from the pile next to the door and headed out to her car. As she drove home, she thought about the gigantic pile of homework she had waiting for her. Lame.

--

Mandi rolled over and tried to cover her eyes. The sun was streaming in through Seth's thin curtain and it had woken her up. She heard a chuckle from across the room and saw that it came from Seth, who was playing something on his PS2.

"What?" she asked, rolling back over.

"You." he replied, smiling.

"What about me?" she asked, sitting up.

"You're funny when you sleep." he replied, putting the controller down and walking over to his bed. He moved her legs over and sat next to her.

"Is there food?" she asked, glancing across the suite to Seth's refrigerator. He laughed.

"I thought I would make us some pancakes. I know how much you love them." he replied, reaching out and stroking her hair. She grinned at him.

"And you're another step closer to my panties." she replied, giggling. He laughed.

"Go take a shower and I'll make the food, okay?" he replied, smiling. Mandi stood up and started towards the bathroom, but then stopped. She turned around and looked at Seth, smiling a little. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Any chance you might want to join me?" she asked.

Seth was in the bathroom before she could finish her sentence. She laughed and followed him in, shutting the door behind her.

--

Red awoke to the sound of the door shutting. She looked beside her and saw Stan sleeping soundly. She grinned as she looked at him. Their night together…their FIRST night together, in fact, had been magical. She snuggled up on his chest and he stirred a little. She smiled.

"Wake up, sleepyhead." she said, poking him. He moaned and rolled over.

"Rebecca…no…your parents will be home soon…" he said. Red felt like someone had slapped her.

"Wake up, Stan." she said, a little loudly. Stan opened his eyes.

"What time is it?" he asked, glancing around for a clock.

"Almost ten." Red replied, a little icily. Stan looked at her, concerned.

"You okay?" he asked, sitting up.

"Fine. Just peachy." she replied, smiling a little. Maybe she had heard wrong. Maybe he had said her name instead of his ex-girlfriend's.

"Okay…" he replied, looking a little unsure. He didn't push it farther, though.

"Last night was amazing, Stan." she said, hugging him. He froze.

"Yeah, last night was…certainly something." he replied.

"I love you." she said, kissing his cheek.

"I…you're great, Red." he replied, not sure what to say. Apparently Red didn't mind too much. She jumped up and went off to one of the bathrooms, saying something about a shower. Stan fell back against the pillows and looked for his cell phone. When he found it, he opened up a new text message. He started to type several different things, but finally settled on "I thought about you all last night.". He scrolled through his contacts until he found Rebecca. He made sure she was keyed in as the recipient and then hit send. He snapped his phone shut, feeling both guilty and hopeful at the same time.

--

Author's Notes: Okay, so it ended on kind of a lame note, but why not? I thought I would make up for the lack of a speedy update with a longer chapter…I hope everyone is okay with that. I'm sorry that I've sucked at updating this thing, but I've been busy with classes and stuff. The only reason I had a chance to really work on this was because I had two days off this week thanks to that lovely ice storm that blanketed Missouri and most of the country. Anyway, I hope you all haven't given up on this story. I really like this one and I am actually planning it out, so it will probably be finished this year. Though you shouldn't quote me on that, lol. This is ME we're talking about, after all. Now go review, please and thanks!


	4. Cuatro

Author's Notes: Yay for procrastinating on updating! Anyway, this is the big Homecoming chapter. We're skipping ahead to September 20, 2006, which is two weeks and three days before the Homecoming dance. This chapter will be mostly Homecoming preparations and such, but I am also introducing the Senior Service Project. Nothing has changed from the last chapter except that Bebe and Scott are "exclusive" now. Kenny is still trying to bone Jessica, Wendy and Token are still dating, Stan and Red are still together, Cartman and Heidi are in Relationship Limbo, Mandi and Seth are still together, and Craig and Lexus are sort of together. I would also like to apologize for sucking when it comes to updates…I had a very busy semester, but now it's summer. Since the economy in my state has apparently been taking it up the ass while I was away, a summer job is not looking very realistic. So I'll write. Anyway, read, review, and enjoy.

--

Wendy leaned back in her seat and sighed. The school administrators had passed around fliers for a second period assembly in the auditorium which was mandatory for all the seniors. Wendy was senior class president, but she had no idea what the assembly was supposed to be about. Everyone had tried pumping her for information, but she really didn't know. She breathed a sigh of relief as Mr. Mackey came on stage. She still couldn't believe he had literally followed her fourth grade class through every year of school. Mr. Mackey tapped on the microphone, sending an annoying screech throughout the room. Several people tittered in protest.

"Attention, m'kay. Attention." he said, glaring out into the audience.

"Suck my ass, Mr. Mackey!" a voice in the back called. Mr. Mackey simply sighed in annoyance.

"Students, we have you gathered here for an important reason, m'kay. This year, Park County High School wants to focus a little more on public affairs, m'kay. We basically want our students to pull their heads out of their asses and help others, m'kay." he said. Several people laughed.

"I'll shove my head up your ass, Mackey!" the same voice as before called.

"Young man, that is not appropriate behavior, m'kay. You are in school." Mr. Mackey replied, sounding annoyed. Wendy felt bad for him.

"Sorry Mr. Mackey, m'kay?" the voice said again. Mr. Mackey chose to ignore the apology.

"Since you're all graduating seniors, we've decided that you have to be the guinea pigs for the public affairs awareness project, m'kay?" Mr. Mackey said. A collective groan spread through the auditorium. A woman stepped up next to Mr. Mackey and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and stepped away from the microphone. The woman stepped up to it and smiled out into the crowd.

"How are we all doing today?" she asked, smiling. She seemed young, probably fresh out of college. She had long auburn hair that was pulled back in a bun. She wore a gray pencil skirt and a white blouse, plus pantyhose and black heels. Clearly, this woman was new to whatever she was doing.

"Show us your boobs!" a voice called. The voice sounded suspiciously like Eric Cartman's, but Wendy decided not to call him out in public. The young woman blushed,

but pretended not to hear the comment.

"My name is Gabriella Yates and I am here to talk to you all about public service. Before I tell you about the program you'll be participating in, I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I got my bachelor's degree just this past May at the University of Denver. I majored in political science and communications. I got offered a job with a company that promotes community service in smaller cities like Fairplay and South Park. I have a real passion for helping people, and I am utterly delighted to be here today." she said, grinning enthusiastically. Wendy shuddered. This poor woman should not show how happy she was. It was just the bait that people like Cartman looked for.

"I'm utterly delighted to see your boobs, Miss Y!" another voice called. Wendy sighed. These were seniors, for God's sakes. Miss Yates apparently had thick skin, though, as she ignored the comments again. Wendy silently thanked her for not making a big deal about it.

"Anyway, I am here to tell you about the Senior Service Project. Basically, I have a list of companies and organizations here. Everyone is going to choose one and do an internship with them for the rest of the school year. Some of these are paid, others are not. All are important. However, the most important part is that you do this. If not, you won't graduate." Miss Yates said. Several angry cries rang throughout the auditorium.

"Can they do that?" Bebe asked, nudging Wendy.

"They can do anything they want." Wendy replied, sighing. She watched as Miss Yates tried to reason with the crowd. Finally, they all shut up.

"Now, these internships are all easy work. For example, we have a few openings at the South Park Retirement Home. All you will do is pass out food trays and read to patients. None of it is hard and all of it is good. We have over a hundred organizations here, people. There will be something for everyone. Now, there is more to this Senior Service Project. I'm going to introduce your principal so she can finish giving you all the details." Miss Yates said. She walked off stage as Principal Victoria came on. Once again, another familiar face from their elementary days.

"Along with your internships, you will all be required to attend daily Senior Workshops in lieu of homeroom. In these workshops, you will discuss your internships as well as college and other personal issues. Once a week, you will meet here for a group lecture about an important issue. Next week's will be about financial aid for college." Principal Victoria said.

"Well, I guess it beats homeroom, right?" Bebe whispered. Wendy nodded.

--

"Hey, they have an Unplanned Parenthood thing here." Mandi said, looking at the fliers on the table. Janae nodded.

"That's cool, I guess." she replied, picking up a brochure for Hell's Pass Hospital.

"You want to work at the hospital?" Mandi asked, glancing at the brochure.

"Mandi, I want to be a nurse. Use your head." Janae replied, rolling her eyes.

"These don't have to have anything to do with our future careers, though. They can be for fun." Mandi replied.

"Testing people for STDs and handing out free condoms definitely sounds fun." Janae replied, rolling her eyes. Mandi just laughed.

"I guess it's better than dealing with sick people." Mandi replied.

"You'll be dealing with sick people too. Your people will just have pig herpes and syphilis and shit." Janae replied, looking smug. Mandi made a face.

"Sick." she said. Janae just laughed. Her laugh stopped abruptly as she looked over Mandi's shoulder and saw Kyren approaching. Mandi gave her a questioning look and turned around to see what had made her stop laughing. She rolled her eyes.

"Hi Mandi, hi Janae." Kyren said, walking up to the table.

"Hey Kyren." Mandi said, suddenly engrossed in her brochure again.

"Unplanned Parenthood?" he asked, reading the front of her brochure.

"Yeah. I go there to get my birth control anyway. Might as well work for them if you support the cause, right?" Mandi said, shrugging. Kyren frowned.

"They perform abortions at that clinic, you know." he replied.

"And?" Mandi asked, raising her eyebrows. Janae sighed. World War III could be nigh.

"And I'm against abortion, Mandi. I'm Catholic. You know that." Kyren replied, sighing.

"Since when are you against abortion?" Mandi asked, frowning. He had always claimed to be pro-choice when they dated.

"Since they taught us the truth about it in Sunday school a few months ago." Kyren replied. He frowned at the brochure in Mandi's hand, as if that might make Unplanned Parenthood stop performing abortions.

"First of all, that's stupid, Kyren. You and I know the truth about it. We wrote how many research papers about it? And second of all, you can be against it all you want, but I fail to see what this has to do with me being an intern there." Mandi said, crossing her arms.

"I'm just saying, Mandi. You should pick another internship. You won't be able to stomach working in an abortion clinic." Kyren replied. Janae wondered if anyone would notice if she walked away.

"Kyren, you don't know me half as well as you seem to think you do. Where I choose to do my internship is my business, not yours." Mandi said, sighing. She expected Kyren to try to argue with her more, but surprisingly, he didn't.

"You're right. That was wrong of me to try to tell you what to do. It is your business." Kyren said, smiling a little. Mandi smiled back in spite of herself. Janae wondered if this was the calm before the giant shit storm.

"It's okay, Kyren." Mandi said.

"I really did come over here for a reason, Mandi." he said, smiling again.

"Oh? What's that?" Mandi asked.

"I know this might seem sort of random, but will you go to the Homecoming dance with me?" he asked. Mandi's eyes widened.

"Go to the dance…with you?" Mandi asked, shocked. Janae knew the feeling. Unfortunately, she had resigned herself to just standing there, pretending to read brochures. Their conversation was none of her business. Not that that was going to stop her from listening to it.

"Yeah, go to the dance with me. I'll pick you up, we'll go out to dinner, our parents will take pictures, we'll go to the dance, we'll have a good time, and I'll have you back in time for curfew." Kyren said, still smiling.

"But…your parents hate me." Mandi replied, not sure what else to say. What would anyone say in that situation?

"They do not." Kyren replied, laughing.

"Your mother does." Mandi replied, still in slight shock.

"Not the point. Come on, come to the dance with me." he said, patting her shoulder in what was supposed to be a friendly way. It just looked awkward from where Janae was standing.

"I have a boyfriend, Kyren." Mandi replied.

"So? It's not a date, Mandi. It's just a friend thing." Kyren said, hurt already evident in his eyes. Janae felt bad for the poor guy. He obviously thought he was going to make things right with Mandi.

"I don't know, Kyren." Mandi replied, sighing.

"Well…take some time. Think about it. Okay?" he said, taking her hand and giving it a little squeeze. Mandi blushed and simply nodded. Kyren smiled at her, turned to Janae and nodded, and walked away. Janae started to open her mouth, but Mandi beat her to it.

"What the FUCK?" Mandi exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"What are you going to do?" Janae asked.

"I don't know. I mean, it's not like I have a date. Seth isn't flying in for some lame little high school dance, so it's not like I would be betraying him or something…" Mandi said, trailing off.

"Going to a dance with your first love and ex-boyfriend. That's not betrayal?" Janae asked, giving Mandi a pointed look. Mandi chose to ignore the question.

--

"Hey, Rebecca." Wendy said, catching up to her in the hall. Rebecca smiled at her in a sad kind of way. The same smile she'd been shooting at everyone since she and Stan broke up.

"Hey Wendy, what's up?" she asked.

"Do you have a study group for AP Bio lined up at all?" Wendy asked, hoping the answer was no.

"What do you mean? Are we supposed to?" Rebecca asked, panic flooding her face.

"No, no, no. We don't HAVE to. But…I've been thinking about putting one together. Do you and Butters want to join?" Wendy asked. Butters was Rebecca's lab partner. Science was not his forte, but Rebecca usually helped him. It was obvious to everyone that he had signed up for the class just to be with Rebecca.

"Yes, definitely. Butters is a lost cause when it comes to this class and I could use all the help I can get. I only pulled an 87 on the first exam." Rebecca replied.

"Okay…I think we'll meet at my place on Friday night. After the football game." Wendy said, writing her address on a piece of notebook paper and handing it to Rebecca.

"Sounds good to me." Rebecca replied. Wendy smiled and scurried off as the warning bell rang, tossing a casual wave over her shoulder at Rebecca. Rebecca smiled. She and Wendy had never been best friends, but she had hung out with her several times and she had been in classes with her ever since her parents had mainstream schooled her. She was glad to be hanging out with her old friends again.

--

"Come on, Cartman. We went to Prom together." Heidi said, smiling up at him. She had to smile up at him because Heidi had only reached 5'3" by the time she finished growing. She hated it.

"Goddammit, Heidi. I don't want to go to the fucking Homecoming dance with you." Cartman replied, rolling his eyes down at her.

"But I already have a super hot dress, baby." Heidi said, wrapping her arms around his waist. Cartman frowned.

"Bitch, how many times do I have to say it before you get it through your thick skull? We are NOT dating. Not dating. NOT DATING. Do you fucking get it yet?" He replied, sighing and removing her arms from his waist. He didn't want to fight with her. She sucked at it, anyway. She never even argued back.

"But…I thought…I thought you liked me, Eric." she replied, her voice low and shaky.

"Well, I like parts of you, anyway." he replied, looking her up and down. Jesus, he was starting to sound like Kenny.

"And even though we have sex, you don't care about me at all?" she asked, tears glistening in her eyes.

"Well…we're friends." Cartman replied, hoping she wouldn't cry.

"I want more." she said, looking at the floor. Cartman sighed again. How many times had they had this conversation?

"Goddammit Heidi…" he said, not sure what else to say.

"I think we should stop seeing each other, Eric." she said, her voice suddenly changing.

"We were never really seeing each other…" Cartman said, confused.

"Whatever. Look, I have other guys interested in me, so maybe I should just go date one of them." she said.

"Okay. Maybe one of them can take you to Homecoming." he said. He didn't add "and put up with your bullshit" even though he wanted to.

"Maybe." she replied.

"Okay…well…see you around, I guess." Cartman replied, stepping away from her. She nodded and walked off down the hall. He shook his head. Thank God that bullshit was over. The sex had been good, sure, but that was mostly because Heidi would let him do literally whatever he wanted in bed. He had talked her into fucking him in a plethora of "forbidden" places, including her parents' bed, which he had found hilarious. He had hoped that she wouldn't get attached, but he could see that she was after Prom. If it hadn't been for the sex, he would have told her to get lost right after Prom. Now he had to find a date for Homecoming. He had been planning on asking someone else anyway, but now it was going to be extra difficult once Heidi spread the word that he only wanted sex. She was a vindictive bitch like that. He knew that she would make sure that no one would go out with him for quite some time. Fortunately for him, he had already boned several girls in their class and they had made sure he knew that he could come back for seconds if he so desired. Oh, the things that being captain of the hockey team did for him. He had always wondered how Seth Testaburger had managed to get so many chicks to bone him when he was really a lame hippie douche bag who preached about recycling and global warming underneath his muscled exterior. Now he saw how.

--

"And I am done. DONE." Rebecca said, tossing her AP Biology book onto Wendy's floor. The other members of their study group, save for Kyle, looked up. Mandi and Janae also shut their books. Butters closed his and let out a little sigh as he fell backwards off of Wendy's desk and onto her floor. Kyren glanced up at the clock.

"It's after midnight. I think we should call it a night." he said, stretching. Kyle looked up at him and frowned.

"Kyren, we haven't even been studying for that long." he replied, sounding annoyed.

"We've been going since after the football game, Kyle." Mandi said. The football game had started at 5:30 because otherwise everyone would freeze to death, even though it was only September. It had ended around 7:30. Mandi and Janae had made a Happy Burger run for the group while everyone else had headed back to Wendy's to start studying. They had started at 8:30 and hadn't taken any breaks.

"Yeah, and that's not even four hours." Kyle replied, still not ready to shut his book and go home.

"Jesus, Nerd Boy. It's Friday. Chill out." Janae said, rolling her eyes. Wendy laughed, but she was secretly glad that Kyle was so devoted to AP Bio. It meant that as his lab partner, she could slack off a little since he would probably try to control every aspect of the lab they had to do the next class period. He was a perfectionist like that.

"So, am I the only one without a dress for Homecoming yet?" Mandi asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from school.

"No, I haven't bought mine yet." Kyren replied, grinning. Mandi rolled her eyes.

"You know I still need to get mine." Janae replied.

"Yeah, I haven't had any time to look. I'm probably going tomorrow, though." Wendy replied.

"Are you going with Token?" Janae asked.

"Yeah." Wendy replied, unable to mask the grimace she made whenever she heard his name.

"Well I'm going with Derrick Hartman." Janae replied, grinning. Butters frowned.

"Why does that name sound so familiar?" he asked.

"Because it sounds just like Eric Cartman." Mandi said, giggling. Janae shot her a dirty look.

"Their names are the only thing about them that are similar." Janae replied.

"Yeah right. That kid is Cartman only a year older and about eight shades blacker." Mandi said, grinning. Janae smacked her on the arm.

"He is not!" she said, making a face at Mandi.

"I always knew Janae was secretly in love with Cartman." Rebecca said, safe from her perch on Wendy's desk chair. Janae was in a beanbag on the other side of the room, so she couldn't reach her to smack her arm. Not that she didn't try, of course.

"Screw you all." Janae replied, giving them dirty looks. Mandi just laughed.

"Well, Becs and I are going together." Butters said, grinning at Rebecca in pure adoration. She shot him a polite smile.

"Yeah. We are." she replied.

"We all know that Kyle is going with that AP Bio book." Mandi said, smiling. Kyle flipped her off without even looking up.

"It's truly a match made in Heaven." Kyren said, grinning at her. Mandi looked away.

"Speaking of matches made in Heaven…is my brother flying in for Homecoming, Mandi?" Wendy asked.

"No. His fall break is at the end of the month, so he's flying home then. I'm flying out there for ours." Mandi replied. This time it was Kyren's turn to look away.

"How do your parents feel about you flying out there?" Wendy asked.

"I'm eighteen. They don't like it, but they really can't stop me. Nor do they try to. My dad did slip a box of condoms into my carry-on last time, though." Mandi replied, rolling her eyes. Everyone laughed, save for Kyle, who was lost in the world of AP Bio and Kyren, who was suddenly lost in the world of one of his socks.

"Sick." Wendy said, shaking her head.

"So…back to dress shopping. No offense, Mandi, but I do not want to hear about your sex life with Wendy's manwhore of an older brother." Janae said, changing the subject. Wendy and Rebecca laughed. Mandi frowned.

"He's not a manwhore anymore." Mandi replied. Kyren snorted.

"Yeah right." Kyren said, rolling his eyes. Mandi shot him a dirty look.

"By all means, Kyren, share your thoughts." she said.

"How far away is he? You really think he's being faithful?" Kyren asked. Mandi frowned.

"Yeah, actually, I do." she said. Kyren shook his head.

"I somehow doubt that." he replied.

"Just because you have the inability to remain faithful to someone you're dating doesn't mean that everyone else has that problem." Mandi said. Everyone in the room began to hold their breath. Janae wanted to sneak out.

"Are you still on about that?" Kyren asked, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, so maybe you never did anything with her…but you wanted to, Kyren. And you had feelings for her! Emotional cheating is still cheating." Mandi replied, rather icily.

"Dress shopping. Oh dress shopping." Rebecca said, interrupting their fight. In all of her years of friendship with both of them, she had literally never witnessed them fight before. It freaked her out a little.

"Yeah…dress shopping." Wendy said, glancing nervously from Mandi to Kyren. Mandi had tucked her anger back in and had her arms crossed over her chest, throwing an occasional dirty look in Kyren's general direction. Kyren just looked like he wanted to cry. Or haul off and smack something. Wendy hid the framed picture of herself and Seth just in case.

"Emotional cheating, huh?" Janae asked. Wendy and Rebecca shot her a dirty look.

"You've heard this story." Mandi replied quietly.

"You've heard this story from Mandi's point of view." Kyren rebutted. Mandi rolled her eyes.

"So, do you guys want to come dress shopping with Bebe and I tomorrow?" Wendy asked, glancing around the room at Mandi, Janae, and Rebecca.

"I'm off tomorrow…" Rebecca said, trying to figure out if she had made any other plans with anyone else.

"Yeah, so am I." Mandi said.

"I'll come if Mandi comes." Janae replied.

"We had breakfast plans, Becs. But if you want to go shopping, we can do it on Sunday." Butters replied, grinning at Rebecca. She smiled back.

"Thanks Butters. You're great." she replied. He beamed.

"I guess I can go. As long as it's not at the crack of fucking dawn." Mandi replied. Kyren smiled.

"And for Mandi, the crack of dawn is at ten in the morning. Anytime after that should work. How about noon?" he said. Mandi shot Kyren a look that clearly said _"Fuck you, you don't know me half as well as you think you do, die in your sleep."._

"Shut up, Kyren. This is none of your goddamn business." Mandi replied. Janae shot Kyren a sympathetic look, but he seemed unfazed.

"Don't take God's name in vain, Mandi." he replied, sounding very chipper. A little too chipper for someone who had just been verbally bitch slapped, in Wendy's opinion.

"Can you guys stop your lover's quarrel, please? Some of us would like to get an A in this fucking class so it doesn't bring down our entire GPA and make us go to Denver Community College because we can't get into fucking Stanford!" Kyle replied, glaring at Mandi and Kyren. Wendy giggled in spite of herself.

"By some of us, you mean you, right?" Wendy asked. Kyle shot her a dirty look as a reply. No one knew what to say after that, so they all sat in silence, giggling into their hands when necessary.

"I'll use God's name in vain if I want to." Mandi replied, glaring at Kyren. Everyone did a double take. Mandi usually argued back right, not five minutes later. Kyren just laughed, which made Mandi glare harder.

"Down, girl." Rebecca said, walking over to Mandi and patting her arm rather awkwardly.

"I…you…we…fuck you, Kyren!" Mandi said, her face red. Rebecca shot Kyren a warning look when he started to laugh. He stopped.

"Should we talk this over? Do some counseling or something?" Rebecca asked, smiling.

"I don't need to talk anything over. I need Kyren to just stop talking period." Mandi replied. Kyren smiled.

"I could use some conflict resolution, actually." Kyren replied.

"You want to resolve this conflict? You started it by calling Seth a manwhore. Just get over your jealousy and apologize to Mandi." Janae interjected.

"I'm not jealous." Kyren replied, turning red.

"You know what I'm not? I'm not listening to this bullshit anymore. Get a fucking room and have sex already, you two." Kyle said, standing up.

"What?" Mandi asked, confused.

"I'm leaving. Wendy, I'll call you tomorrow. Maybe we can finish this lab shit in peace. Goodnight." Kyle said, stomping out of Wendy's room.

"On that note, I'm changing the subject. You two need to stop fighting." Wendy said, shaking her head at Mandi and Kyren.

"So…dress shopping?" Kyren asked, smiling.

"Yeah, dress shopping. We're going tomorrow at what, ten?" Janae asked. Wendy shook her head.

"Tomorrow is Saturday. We can meet for lunch around noon and then go shopping." she replied, smiling at Mandi.

"Works for me." Janae replied.

"Yeah, same here." Rebecca said, smiling. She was glad to hang out with her old friends again.

--

Mandi was still pretty pissed by the time she got home, which was around 1AM. Her mom was out with her boyfriend, her sister was off at some college party in Denver, and her brother was at a friend's house. She sighed and threw her purse down, glad to have the place to herself. She could be as pissy as she wanted and she wouldn't have to explain it to her mom, who would just tell her that her fight with Kyren was an indication that they were meant for each other. Her mother refused to believe that Mandi and Kyren were over for good, despite Mandi's relationship with Seth. It annoyed Mandi to no end. She sighed and kicked the leg of the coffee table, sending waves of pain up her leg. She cursed and fell back onto the couch, biting her lip to hold back the tears. At that moment, Mandi's cell phone blared "You're the One That I Want" from the Grease soundtrack, indicating that Seth was calling.

"Hey." she said.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"What?" she asked, confused. How could he tell?

"You sound like you want to cry, babe." he said, sounding concerned.

"Oh. I just kicked the coffee table with my bad ankle and it hurt a lot." she replied. Her "bad ankle" was the ankle she had broken the week after Halloween her junior year of high school. It had been bad enough to require surgery and six months of physical therapy once the cast had come off. She had just finished the physical therapy in July and her ankle still hurt sometimes. It had also contributed to her break-up with Kyren.

"Why did you kick the coffee table?" Seth asked, seeing right through her lame excuse.

"Kyren is pissing me off." she replied, sighing. That's what she loved about Seth--er, really really liked about him. He could see right through her lame excuses because he knew her so well.

"Why is he pissing you off? What did he do?" Seth asked, annoyance evident in his own voice. Mandi told him the entire story, from Kyren asking her to Homecoming to what had happened at the study group meeting.

"I just…he's pissing me off so much lately. Where does he get off making assumptions about you and I's relationship like that?" she said, annoyed.

"He can say anything he wants to say. What matters is whether or not you believe what he said." Seth replied, sounding unsure. This confused Mandi.

"What?" she asked.

"Do you believe I'm cheating on you?" he asked, his voice barely audible.

"No way. You wouldn't do that." Mandi replied. Seth sighed.

"There's a relief. For a second there I thought you were upset because you took that part seriously." Seth said, sounding relieved.

"Seth, I would know if you were cheating on me. You can't lie to save your life." Mandi said, smiling. Seth laughed.

"Very true. But I had to check." Seth said, happy that his girlfriend believed him.

"Seth, you liked me for two years before we got together. Why would you fuck it up?" Mandi said, rolling her eyes. Seth laughed.

"And now that I have you, I love you." he said, smiling. Mandi's eyes widened.

"Did you just…?" she asked, amazed.

"Yeah. Yeah I did." he said, smiling. He knew she wouldn't say it back.

"Well…uh…thanks?" she replied, laughing a little.

"Anyway, I just called to say that. And see if you were still, you know, alive." he said, smiling. He felt better since he used the L word. He had felt it for a long time, since before they started dating, but he had been afraid to use it too early.

"So what do I do about Kyren?" Mandi asked.

"Huh?" Seth replied, confused.

"He asked me to Homecoming…" she said.

"Oh yeah. I don't know, babe, that one is your call. If you want to go, go. If not, don't go. Either way, you're going to have fun." he said, smiling.

"You're not going to get pissed about it?" she asked, suspicious.

"No way. Besides, Kyren doesn't have the effect on your panties that I have." Seth replied, laughing. Mandi rolled her eyes.

"Which is why we haven't even had sex yet, right?" she replied.

"Good things come to those who wait." he replied.

--

The next morning, Janae called Mandi at the crack of fucking dawn to get her up. Or at 10AM, which was the same thing to Mandi. When Janae's ring tone, "Barracuda", went off, Mandi groaned.

"Whaddyawant?" Mandi said, not even opening her eyes.

"Good morning to you too, Mandi." Janae said, sounding fully awake. Mandi wanted to slap her.

"It's like five in the morning." Mandi said, sitting up.

"Actually, it's more like ten. We're meeting Wendy and everyone at noon, remember?" Janae said. Mandi made a grumbling noise.

"So why the fuck are you calling me at fucking ten in the goddamn morning if we aren't meeting them until fucking noon, Janae?" Mandi growled. Janae laughed.

"Because you're such a delight to talk to, obviously. Now get your ass up and take a shower. I'm going to be at your house at eleven and I expect you to be ready." Janae said. Mandi groaned again.

"Why the fuck are we leaving at eleven?" Mandi asked.

"Because we're going to the mall in Denver. The South Park Mall sucks." Janae replied.

"Fucking…goddammit…you suck SO MUCH sometimes, Janae." Mandi said. Janae heard a thump, which meant that Mandi had at least hauled her ass out of bed. The battle was 75% complete.

"I love you too, Mandi. You're my best friend in the world. Now get your ass in the shower and be ready by eleven." Janae said, laughing. She hung up the phone before Mandi could yell at her again.

--

Mandi did as Janae said and jumped in the shower. She threw on a pair of jeans and a purple University of Washington hoodie and was French braiding her hair when Janae knocked on her bedroom door. Without waiting for a response, Janae walked in.

"Ready?" she asked, grinning. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a gray South Park Community College hoodie. Probably Derrick's hoodie.

"I see we rep the boyfriends." Mandi said, glancing up at Janae. Janae scowled.

"You represent yours, maybe. I've had this for awhile." Janae replied, gesturing towards her own hoodie. Mandi just laughed.

"Finish with your goddamn hair already. We're meeting them at some new pizza place in Denver and I have no idea where it is." Janae replied, frowning. Mandi quickly finished braiding her hair and they left for Denver. They pulled into the parking lot of the pizza place at noon exactly. Mandi saw Wendy's Saturn and Rebecca's Taurus parked right next to each other, which meant that unless Bebe was also late, they were the last ones to arrive. They went inside and saw that Wendy, Bebe, and Rebecca were all sitting in a booth close to the front of the restaurant, chomping on what looked like garlic bread. Mandi and Janae sat down in the booth.

"It's about damn time." Bebe said, smiling at them. Janae pointed at Mandi.

"Little Miss Sunshine over there wouldn't get up until I called her and told her. Then she made me grab her morning latte so she could function." she said, rolling her eyes at Mandi.

"Hey now, it's not my fault you guys want to meet at the crack of fucking dawn." Mandi said, smiling. Wendy laughed.

"It's noon. Hardly dawn." she said, passing the bread basket to Janae and Mandi.

They ate their fill of pizza, split the bill five ways, and went on to the mall. Their first stop was Lacy's, which is not at all an obvious rip-off of Macy's. Nope. They headed towards the junior formal section and were immediately greeted by a saleswoman who literally looked as if she lived on speed and speed alone.

"Hi, welcome to Lacy's! Do you girls need dresses? I bet you need dresses, you look like you're in high school. Are you going to Homecoming? We have a lot of dresses here!" she said, literally bouncing as she said it. All five girls exchanged amused glances.

"Um…I think we're good for now." Mandi said, smiling nervously. The woman nodded and bounced at the same time, which made her look like a bobble-head doll.

"No problem, just find me if you need me!" she responded, bouncing away to harass the other customers who had just walked in.

"Remind me to never consider a career in retail." Rebecca muttered, walking over to a rack of silk evening gowns. She pulled a light blue halter one off of the rack and held it up to her.

"Nice cut, wrong color." Bebe said, giving the dress a once-over. She pulled a mango colored dress of the same cut off of the rack and handed it to Rebecca. Rebecca put the light blue one back on the rack and held the new dress up to herself.

"This is a great color." she said, looking down at herself. Bebe nodded.

"That's the first one you're trying on. Now wait for us to find something and we can all go into the fitting rooms together." Bebe said, picking up a black strapless dress and handing it to Janae. Janae studied it.

"Why black?" Janae asked.

"Because it matches your soul." Mandi replied, holding a bright yellow taffeta gown up to herself.

"Because, Janae, you wear a lot of black. It's your signature color." Bebe replied. She glanced over at Mandi, who was holding the yellow dress up to herself in front of the mirror that Lacy's had next to the dresses. "Mandi, no. Put it back." she said, horrified.

"What?" Mandi asked, glancing up.

"Do you WANT to look like you rolled around in toxic waste before the dance? Put it back. Now." Bebe commanded. She walked over to Mandi and took the dress from her. She held it in front of her as if the dress itself was literally the toxic waste it looked like and placed it back on the rack. She wiped the hand she had used to carry the dress in on her jeans as if she was wiping toxic residue from it. Wendy snickered.

"Jesus, Bebe, it's a dress." she said.

"Hush, Wendy. Here, Mandi." Bebe said, handing Mandi a dress from the silk rack. It was red, strapless, and had little rhinestones all over the top part. The bottom was flared out a bit, with red lace underneath to make it poof. Mandi took the dress and stared at it.

"I think she wants you to try it on." Janae said, looking at the dress. It was nice.

"Duh." Mandi said, rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out at Janae. Bebe handed Wendy a midnight blue strapless gown like Mandi's, but it had pearls instead of rhinestones.

"Blue? Really?" Wendy said, staring at the gown.

"I know it seems crazy, but trust me." Bebe said, grabbing a pink strapless dress for herself.

The five girls made their way to the dressing room. They all headed to separate whatever the fuck they call the stall-like things in dressing room and tried on their respective dresses.

"Goddammit, my ass is huge!" Bebe cried from her stall thing.

"Fuckin' shit." Mandi grumbled.

"Well, I won't be a virgin much longer if I wear this." Janae said.

"Jesus Christ, I'm TRANSPARENT!" Wendy cried.

"Hey, this actually looks good." Rebecca said.

They all walked out into the middle section between the stall things. Rebecca was right--her dress DID look good. It hit the right way in all the right places. Janae's was tight on her boobs and left little to the imagination. Mandi's looked good as well, but it was very tight around her boobs. She knew that if she went to the dance with Kyren, he wouldn't be talking to her face. No one would if she wore that dress. Wendy's made her look scarily pale, like she had been recovering from a terrible bout with the Bubonic Plague. Bebe's was so tight around her ass that she couldn't sit down without risking splitting the dress in half. They all stared at each other and started laughing.

"Rebecca, yours is a keeper." Bebe said, looking her up and down. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Mine might be okay in the next size up." Janae said, glancing down at her dress. Bebe nodded.

"Yeah, that one is a little tight." she replied, smiling.

"Hey Mandi, I never realized you had such a huge rack." Wendy said, looking at Mandi. Mandi shot her a dirty look.

"Seriously, does Seth know?" Janae asked, smirking. Mandi shot her an even dirtier look.

"Go take a picture of yourself in that dress and send it to him." Rebecca suggested, waggling her eyebrows. Mandi rolled her eyes.

"It's like foreplay from afar." Janae said.

"Sick!" Wendy cried, feeling a wave of nausea rush over her.

--

Back in South Park, Stan had Red over. He was playing Okama Gamesphere and she was filing her nails, clearly bored out of her mind.

"Hey, Stan?" she purred.

"Hmm?" he said, not even looking up from his game.

"I thought…about Homecoming…" she said, rubbing his leg.

"Wha?" he said, still into his game.

"We go to the dance, take a few pictures. You know, prove we were there. Then we go back to my place and use my parents' hot tub." she said, smiling seductively. Stan glanced over at her.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"My parents are going to be out of town that weekend. Do you want to use their hot tub?" she asked, smiling.

"Token is having a party." he replied.

"So?" she asked.

"So I already told him I would be there." he replied, shrugging. Plus the idea of a night in a hot tub with Red wasn't sitting well with him anyway. He didn't like having sex with her. It made him feel like he was doing something wrong.

"I doubt he'll miss you that much." she cooed. Yes, cooed.

"A promise is a promise." he replied, going back to his game. Red shot him a dirty look and went back to filing her nails. She tried not to think about how Rebecca would be at Token's party as well.

--

Cartman was going through his cell phone contact list, trying to figure out who he could ask to Homecoming. Heidi had a new date, which suited him just fine. The less he had to deal with that whiny bitch, the better. He scrolled through the list a second time, frowning. Why were all the attractive girls in his class suddenly taken? He sighed and stopped at a name. Desirae Smith. She was just a sophomore, but he also knew that she was willing to put out. He wondered briefly if she was working, then grabbed his car keys and decided to find out for himself. He drove to the mall and parked right outside the food court. As he walked inside the mall, he heard her before he saw her.

"Goddammit, buddy, you get what you get. We have orange smoothies. That's it. What do you think this is, Orange Julius? This is the fucking orange smoothie cart. We don't even have a proper goddamn name." she said, glaring at a customer. The guy had probably asked for a strawberry-banana smoothie or something. Cartman laughed and walked towards the cart. The guy that Desirae had been yelling at walked away, shaking his head. He met Cartman's eye.

"That bitch is insane." he muttered.

"What did that poor guy ever do to you?" Cartman said, walking up to Desirae's cart. She glared at him.

"What the fuck do you want, you fat piece of shit?" she asked. Cartman briefly wondered how she was able to hold down a job, but decided against asking. He decided to play her game instead.

"What do you think I want, bitch?" he replied. She frowned.

"I have no goddamn clue, asslogger. Why do you think I asked? What am I, a fucking psychic over here? If I were, wouldn't I be working at the orange smoothie and psychic cart?" she asked, pointing down the food court. Sure enough, a Miss Cleo look-alike sat behind an orange smoothie cart, reading palms and looking into a crystal ball. Cartman shook his head. Some questions were better left unanswered, especially in South Park.

"No, bitch. Give me a fucking smoothie and make it snappy." Cartman replied. Desirae glared at him with enough anger to literally catch something on fire.

"Three dollars, you fat waste of space." she replied, pouring the smoothie into a cup and shoving it into his hand. She took his three dollars and shoved it into the cash register. "Have a nice fucking day, you fat piece of shit." she replied, hoping he would go away.

"You're so angry all the time. You need to get laid, don't you?" Cartman said, taking a sip of his orange smoothie.

"No, I need fucking dicks like you to stay away from me." she replied, rolling her eyes. Cartman smirked.

"Do you have a date for Homecoming yet?" he asked.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"I asked if you had a date for Homecoming. What are you, deaf?" he replied, frowning.

"Fuck you, fatass. I heard you the first goddamn time. I just wasn't sure if you were actually talking to me." she replied.

"Who else would I be talking to, bitch?" he asked.

"Yourself?" she replied.

"Funny." he said.

"You want to take me to Homecoming, huh?" she asked.

"Did I say that, bitch?" he replied, rolling his eyes.

"You asked if I had a date. What are you doing, asking me for someone else? I highly doubt that." she said.

"Fine. Yeah, I am asking you, skank. What do you say?" he asked. He knew she would say yes.

"Well since you asked me SO nicely…" she said, smirking.

"So you'll go?" he replied.

"Yeah, I guess. But you're taking me out for a nice dinner first and you're not going to try to get into my pants until at least two hours in." she said, smirking at him. He rolled his eyes.

"Please, bitch. You really think I want in your pants?" he replied.

"You asked for a reason." she pointed out.

"Whatever, skank. You wish. So be ready at six." he said, walking off. Desirae shook her head and didn't even notice Kyren walking up to her until he was literally right in front of her. When she did notice, she jumped about eight feet in the air. Kyren laughed.

"Jesus, give me a fucking heart attack!" she exclaimed. Kyren continued laughing.

"Sorry, but the look on your face was priceless." he replied, shrugging. She rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess…you want an orange smoothie?" she asked, smiling at him. She was nice to Kyren because he had dated her sister. She knew the poor guy still carried a flaming torch for Mandi, but she didn't have the heart to tell him that Mandi's torch for him had sizzled out.

"Actually, I want to know what I need to do to get Mandi to go to Homecoming with me…" he replied, blushing. Desirae sighed.

"Turn into Seth Testaburger." she replied.

"She said he can't come. Why won't she go with me?" he asked, his voice low.

"You're still in love with her." Desirae replied, shrugging.

"So? We're soul mates." Kyren replied, sighing sadly.

"No. No you're not." Desirae said, shaking her head.

"Look, Desirae, no offense, but you don't know. We had a great relationship. She is the only girl I will ever love and I can't live without her." Kyren said. Desirae's eyebrows shot up.

"Extreme, much?" she asked. She wasn't sure whether to hug him or tell him to get a life.

"Maybe, but I miss her." Kyren replied.

"You want to take my sister to Homecoming?" Desirae asked.

"Yes. More than anything." Kyren replied.

"Then everything you just told me? Don't tell her that." Desirae replied.

"What? Why?" Kyren replied, confused.

"Because she loves Seth. She doesn't want to screw that up." Desirae replied.

"She…but…she loves me. Right?" Kyren replied. Desirae shook her head sadly.

"Not anymore." she replied, trying to be as gentle as possible. Kyren sighed.

"I still want to go with her." he said. Desirae nodded.

"Then just tell her that. She'll probably do it." she replied. Kyren nodded.

"Thanks, Des." he said, hugging her. Desirae hugged him back, feeling awkward.

"Yeah…no problem." she replied. He nodded, turned, and walked off. She shook her head.

--

Four hours later, all five girls finally had dresses. Janae had found another black dress at JC Nickel, which is not at all a knock-off of JC Penney. Her dress was strapless with little silver flowers all over it. Mandi had found another dress exactly like the first red one that she had tried on. Rebecca had stuck with her original mango dress. Wendy had found a lavender silk gown on clearance at some bridal store. Bebe had chosen a hot pink halter dress with rhinestones all over it. Somehow, they had all managed to spend less than $100 on their dresses. They had, of course, sprung for shoes and purses and jewelry, as well as whatever other girly shit they needed. After they finished shopping, they all went their separate ways. As Janae and Mandi drove back to South Park, Mandi decided to talk out her Kyren issue with her best friend.

"So, should I go with Kyren?" Mandi asked.

"That one is up to you." Janae replied, merging onto the interstate.

"Yeah, but what do you think?" Mandi asked.

"I think that Kyren wants it to be more than just a dance." Janae said, speeding up.

"You mean he wants to get back together?" Mandi asked.

"That's exactly what I mean." Janae replied. She put on her turn signal and switched lanes. Mandi slumped back against her seat and sighed unhappily.

--

When Mandi got to her locker on Monday morning, two things were waiting for her. The first thing was an envelope from Unplanned Parenthood, inviting her to interview with them during Senior Workshop. She silently thanked God that she had a black pencil skirt, sensible heels, and a white blouse in her locker that she had forgotten to take home after her AP Government presentation the week before. The second thing had been Kyren, who had really been waiting at the locker bank across from hers as she read her Unplanned Parenthood letter. As soon as she had placed the letter back in her locker, he had swooped in.

"Good news?" he asked.

"Unplanned Parenthood wants me to interview with them during Senior Workshop." she replied, smiling in spite of her knowledge of Kyren's opposition to the organization. He smiled anyway.

"Hey, that's great! Congratulations!" he replied, smiling.

"Thanks, Kyren." she replied, grabbing her books for her first three classes out of her locker.

"So, have you given any thought to Homecoming?" he asked, looking at the ground. She smiled at him.

"Yes…and…yes. But on one condition." she replied.

"What? Anything." he replied, perking up. She laughed.

"You have to promise me that this is just a friend thing. It's not a date. Please don't get any ideas, okay?" she said, hoping she wouldn't hurt his feelings by saying that. He nodded.

"Of course. I respect your relationship with Wendy's brother." he said. He couldn't bring himself to say Seth's name. Mandi nodded.

"Good. See you in first period." she said, walking off.

--

Wendy also had an interview during Senior Workshop, but hers was with Keep South Park Beautiful. Her letter had specifically stated that she didn't have to dress up, so she hadn't. Still, she felt a little unprofessional in her Park County High School Student Council t-shirt and faded jeans. She walked into the room where the interview was supposed to take place and shook hands with the woman sitting at the table. Immediately, she relaxed. The woman was wearing jeans and a Keep South Park Beautiful t-shirt.

"You must be Wendy Testaburger." the woman said, smiling. Wendy nodded.

"Yes ma'am." she replied. The woman motioned for Wendy to sit down and she did.

"Now, I've gone over your résumé, and it's very impressive. You seem to truly care about the environment." the woman said, smiling.

"Yes ma'am, I do. I've always been environmentally conscious and I do my best to take care of it." Wendy replied, hoping she didn't sound too eager. The woman smiled.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Now, I have four candidates and two positions, but I'm going to tell you right now that one of them is yours." the woman said. Wendy squealed a little inside.

"Oh, thank you!" she said, jumping up and shaking the woman's hand. The woman laughed.

"By the way, my name is Betsy. The position requires about fifteen hours per week, plus the option to add more if you want. It pays nine dollars an hour." Betsy said. She handed Wendy her card, shook her hand again, and ushered her out the door. Wendy went back to Senior Workshop absolutely beaming. She had basically just been handed her dream job AND she got school credit. She was on top of the world at that moment.

--

Author's Notes: I made it a little longer than usual to make up for my not updating in awhile. I promise I will update more, though! I have a lot of time to do that this summer. Anyway, I'm just going to go ahead and break down who is doing what for their internship because it's easier. I'll just talk about people mentioned in the story specifically…everyone else…make up your own ideas.

_Wendy: Keep South Park Beautiful._

_Bebe: South Park Petting Zoo._

_Stan: Park County Animal Shelter._

_Kyle: South Park Elementary--tutoring third graders._

_Cartman: Park County Recreation Center--teaching little kids sports._

_Mandi: Unplanned Parenthood._

_Janae: Hell's Pass Hospital--Labor and Delivery._

_Kyren: Hell's Pass Hospital--Pediatrics._

_Kenny: Fairplay Soup Kitchen._

_Red: South Park Retirement Home._

_Rebecca: South Park Middle School--tutoring seventh graders._

_Butters: Fairplay Petting Zoo._

_Craig: Park County Parks._

_Lexus: Park County Parks._

_Token: Park County History Museum._

That should be everyone that I've mentioned in the story…or at least everyone who has had an actual part in the story. The next chapter will be the Homecoming chapter and we'll get to the real meat of this story. =)


	5. Cinco

Author's Notes: It's the chapter you've all been waiting for…because you all care SO goddamn much. That's right, it's ALL Homecoming. And the morning after. Well, except the first part. The first part is going to be Mandi's dream sequence…it's in italics, so you'll know it from everything else. Originally, I had her fighting with Kyren to show how they broke up and how she and Seth got together, but I decided to do a dream sequence instead because it's shorter and easier to condense the happenings of about six months into one little dream. The dream sequence begins around Halloween 2005 and ends right around the time she hooks up with Seth, in March 2006. Anyway, as always…read, enjoy, review.

--

Mandi tossed and turned. She wasn't awake, but she wasn't exactly in the deepest throes of sleep, either. Her eyes fluttered open once, twice, three times. She glanced over at the clock and saw that it was 3:23 AM. Her alarm was set for 9:30, so she still had about six or so hours. Her eyes fluttered shut once again and almost immediately, she began to dream.

"_I'm sorry, Mandi." Kyren began, fidgeting . Mandi had just opened her front door and had no idea what he was talking about, but a cold fear settled over her. She looked past him into her driveway, and saw Grace Johnson, a sophomore girl from His Holy Name High School sitting in Kyren's Jeep. Grace smiled at Mandi and waved. Mandi scowled._

"_What is she doing here, Kyren?" Mandi asked, annoyed. Kyren's parents had been trying to set him up with Grace since she started attending their church a year ago. _

"_She had nothing else to do tonight and she wanted to come to the dance." he replied, shrugging. Mandi wanted to cry. The Halloween Dance wasn't that big of a deal…it wasn't even called the Halloween Dance. It was called Fall Harvest Ball, even though everyone always wore costumes and the decorations were all jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, and creepy crawlies. Mandi had traded with some new girl at Whistlin' Willie's so she could go to the goddamn dance and had spent weeks working on her costume all by herself. She was a butterfly, and she had painted her wings herself. Kyren was supposed to be a flower, but she saw that he was only wearing the stem part of his costume. _

"_I see." she said, not sure what else to say. She shrugged, drug him inside for the obligatory photos that her mom wanted, and crossed her arms when she was finally settled in the Jeep, behind Grace. Grace had tried to make friendly conversation with her as she climbed in, but she had silenced her with a death glare._

_At the dance, she found Rebecca, who had somehow detached herself from Stan. Janae had opted to stay home because she thought the Harvest Ball was lame. Rebecca took one look at Mandi and immediately scanned the gym for Kyren. It seemed like he was making her friend cry more and more lately and she wanted to at least give him a dirty look, if not a piece of her mind. She finally found him out on the dance floor, dancing with some blonde girl who looked like she was enjoying herself. Kyren was smiling politely and talking to her, but he kept looking for Mandi. Rebecca sighed and placed a comforting hand on Mandi's shoulder, not sure what else to do. Mandi smiled at her gratefully, as if that tiny gesture meant everything in the world to her. _

_Mandi was suddenly transported to Whistlin' Willie's, two weeks later. Fuck if she understood this goddamn dream. Anyway, she remembered that particular Saturday because she worked noon to ten, or noon to close. It was basically dead, and she wanted nothing more than to be at home studying for her giant Spanish 4 test, but she had a feeling that that just wasn't going to happen since her boss was a bitch. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up, expecting some overly tall middle school kid. Instead, she saw Kyren. He grinned at her and even though she felt like smacking him for the events two weeks earlier, she grinned back. He gestured towards a booth near the arcade and her grin faded. His parents were sitting at the booth, along with Grace Johnson. His mother looked up, scowled at Mandi, and waved Kyren back over to the table. Kyren shrugged and went back to join them. When he sat down, Grace blew the paper off of her straw at his face, and he laughed. The simple gesture tore at Mandi's heart and she struggled to regain her composure. She looked over at their table again and saw that they had a pizza tag sitting on top of the napkin dispenser. Number 27. She walked back to the food window, determined to distract herself, and saw that Number 25 and 26 were up. She delivered those pizzas, hoping that one of her co-workers got Kyren's table. As she returned to the food window, though, she saw that Number 27 was up and the only other pizza runners of the night were busy with a birthday party in the staging area and Whistlin' Willie himself was there as well. She grabbed the two pizzas from the window and took them over to Kyren's table, pausing to grab a cup of ranch dressing for Kyren's father. She sat the pizzas on their table and smiled._

"_Can I get anything else for you?" she asked, not making eye contact with any of them. Kyren's mother smiled._

"_Oh, Amanda, I didn't know you were working tonight." she said. That was a lie. She had cornered Mandi three days before and asked what she was doing that weekend since some random relative was having a birthday party on Saturday night and she didn't want Mandi to be lonely while Kyren went to Conifer with them. Apparently those plans had fallen through._

"_Yeah, noon to close. I'm ready to get out of here." Mandi replied, smiling. It felt more like a grimace, though._

"_Amanda, have you met Grace Johnson? Grace, this is Amanda, one of Kyren's…well…his friend from school." his mother said, smiling. Mandi looked over at Kyren, expecting him to correct his mother, at least so that Grace knew that she was more than just a friend. However, Kyren remained silent, not even making eye contact with Mandi._

"_Call me Mandi, Grace. And yes, Mrs. Andrews, we met a couple of weeks ago. She came to the dance with us." Mandi replied. If she hadn't been working, she would have given that snooty bitch a piece of her mind._

"_Grace and Kyren are getting along so well these days." Mrs. Andrews continued, smiling. Mandi smiled back._

"_That's absolutely fantastic. I have to get back to work, though. The pizza window is filling up." she said, shrugging. As she walked away, she saw that the pizza window was empty. Mandi felt herself being transported again._

_A week and a half later, as the first snow settled over South Park, Mandi woke up late for school. She called Janae and told her to go on without her, that she would probably be late for first period. She grabbed her backpack and rushed out the front door, not even realizing that she had fallen until she was on the ground. Maybe it was shock or maybe it was the subzero temperatures, but she felt no pain until she tried to get up and walk. The pain was a white hot dagger shooting from her left ankle and radiating up her leg, all the way to her hip. It was enough to knock her back on the ground. She began to cry silently, well aware that the tears would freeze to her face. She looked down at her ankle for the first time and saw that it and her foot were twisted in a way that a human's should never be. She finally found her voice when she heard someone opening the front door. She screamed loudly and her brother almost fell himself. The rest of the events were a blur, screaming and sirens. A montage of pain and fear._

_Four hours later, in the ER of Hell's Pass, where an ambulance had delivered her since neither of her siblings could drive yet and her mother was already in Denver for work, the doctor finally came in to tell her what her x-rays said. Her mother was down in the cafeteria, grabbing a coffee, and her father was snoozing next to her in a chair. He sat up when the doctor came in and made some joke about an ankle transplant. The doctor laughed, but he looked grim as he showed Mandi the x-ray and explained the problem. Something wasn't going to set right, so she needed pins put in to help. It would be a long process. Eight weeks in a cast, months of physical therapy after that. Someone would be down to take her up to the OR in a matter of minutes, were there any questions? _

_She awoke three hours later in a hospital room. Her mom was next to her, smoothing the blanket down on the hospital bed. Her dad was playing some travel board game with her little brother. Desirae was flipping channels. She looked next to her and saw a balloon bouquet and three vases full of flowers. Her mother handed her a cup of ice water and she drank, hoping it would stay down._

_She was in the hospital for a total of four days, so she missed the rest of the week of school. Janae, Rebecca, and even Wendy had visited her every single day, but she hadn't seen or heard from Kyren. No flowers, no calls, no anything. When she got home, though, she saw that he was sitting on her front steps, looking worried. Her mother helped her inside and situated her on the couch. Kyren sat next to her._

"_Mandi, I'm sorry." he said, looking into her eyes. She shook her head._

"_You didn't visit me. You didn't even call, Kyren." she said. She didn't want to seem needy or clingy because that definitely was not the kind of girl she was, but goddammit, she had had surgery. Her boyfriend should have come to see her._

"_My parents…they…they didn't want me to." he said quietly. She shook her head._

"_Janae said you didn't even mention it when you talked to her. I know you knew about it. My sister still went to school that morning." Mandi said, on the verge of tears._

"_I just…I don't have an excuse, I suppose. I'm sorry, Mandi." he said, taking her hand._

"_No. No you don't." she replied, taking her hand back. He let out a shaky breath._

"_I know that things have been bad for us lately. I know it's been rough. But Mandi, I love you. I don't want to lose you." he said, taking her hand again. This time, she let him keep it._

_There was a quick montage, shots of Kyren helping her to and from school, carrying her books, getting her food in the cafeteria, sitting with her in her bedroom, helping with what she had missed in school. It was like they had renewed their relationship. Grace was not mentioned. It was all about them. He held her hand and kissed her again. They shared mushroom pizzas again. It was like when they had first discovered making out in eighth grade…they were suddenly all over each other again. They even started talking about having sex, a subject they hadn't broached in six months. It was all fantastic. Naturally, it had to end._

_Kyren's parents heard about her accident and invited her over for dinner the Friday after Thanksgiving. She had a bad feeling about it, and soon discovered why when she was halfway through her lasagna._

"_Kyren has been helping you out a lot, Amanda." his mother said, watching as Kyren got up and went to the kitchen to get Mandi another glass of lemonade. Mandi smiled._

"_Kyren has been wonderful. I don't know what I would do without him." she said. She was still on top of the world with she and Kyren's newfound happiness._

"_Well, you might want to figure that out." his mother replied, rather coldly._

"_Darling." Kyren's father said, as if warning her. Mandi's heart stopped beating for half a second. _

"_It's hurting Kyren's grades and frankly, I don't like them spending so much time together." his mother said, shooting Mandi an apologetic look._

"_What she means is that we would prefer it if maybe you could find someone else to help you out. We understand that you're going to be going to be in a cast for the next couple of months, but surely you have other people willing to help you out." Kyren's father said. _

"_We also know that you only live with your mother and that she works long hours. You do not share Kyren's beliefs in God. You probably do not share his views on sexual intercourse outside of the marital bed." his mother said. Mandi wanted to laugh. Mandi wanted to tell her that her precious baby boy had been the one to go up her shirt first and that she certainly wasn't some little whore, waiting to corrupt him with sex and sin. However, she didn't say anything. Instead, she merely nodded and wondered why Kyren was taking so goddamn long to bring that lemonade._

_The next day, Seth Testaburger called her. He was home from school and had heard about her ankle. He hoped she wouldn't mind if he dropped by and said hello. She agreed, even though she knew that Kyren would probably get pissed. Even though she wasn't exactly happy with him. Seth arrived with a bouquet of yellow daisies and a teddy bear with a University of Washington sweater on. She smiled and thanked him and thought she actually saw him blushing._

"_It's no big deal, really. I just remember you saying once that yellow daisies were your favorite and I know that you like stuffed animals…" he said, running a hand through his hair. She smiled._

"_Thank you…it's all great, Seth. Really." she replied. She almost felt guilty when he sat next to her on the couch and scooted closer, as close as Kyren usually sat. Or when he gently lifted her ankle from it's pillow, placed the pillow on his lap, and re-positioned her ankle onto that pillow. Or when he rested his hand on her good leg, drawing little circles into her jeans with his finger and making her entire leg tingle. Or when he didn't just help her to the downstairs bathroom. He picked her up as if she weighed nothing and carried her. When she put her arms around his neck, she felt something, but it wasn't anything like guilt._

_A week later, Kyren caved. He let himself into the house and saw her sitting on the couch in the family room, watching some lame TV movie. She shut the TV off when he entered the room and scooted away from him when he tried to sit next to her._

"_Mandi, come on." he pleaded. She shook her head._

"_It's not working anymore." she said, thinking of how Seth had made her feel the weekend before. Adored, beautiful, funny, smart. All the things Kyren hadn't made her feel in months._

"_That's not true. Come on, can you really throw away five years?" he asked, sighing. Even when he asked, he knew it was a lost cause. Yes she could. Yes she would. Her mind was made up._

"_I don't think I'm the one who threw them away. I've tried. You haven't." she said, shrugging. He felt tears forming in his eyes, but he didn't care._

"_I can change, Mandi. We had a good few weeks, remember? We talked about…about…my God, Mandi, we were going to take that next step in the relationship! Two weeks ago we were on your bed, trying to see how far we could take it." he said, one tear escaping._

"_We can still be friends." she said. Somehow she didn't want to cry._

"_Where is this coming from?" he asked._

"_We fell out of love. It happens. This isn't healthy anymore." she said, like she was telling him what math problems to complete for homework. He couldn't believe how casual she was being about the entire thing._

"_Is there someone else?" he asked. Her mind briefly flashed to Seth Testaburger, but that was one afternoon. She thought of Grace and her skinny little form, her perfect blonde hair. How she blew that straw paper at Kyren right in front of her, how they had danced together. _

"_Not for me." she replied._

_Everyone was shocked by their break-up, but Mandi really wasn't. There were dates and parties where she made out with other guys, but she never felt anything. That part didn't shock her too much, though. Who would really want to have sex with Clyde, Bryden, Kevin, or Kenny, anyway? She was shocked, however, by Scott Tenorman's interest in her. He found her on Myspace, started talking to her, and asked her out. She ignored her better judgment, which told her that he was a deadbeat baby daddy to Millie's kid and that he was, you know, five years older. They had five dates before they were wriggling around on his futon, hoping like hell his roommate didn't walk in. When he tried to unzip her pants, she swatted his hand away. _

"_We've only been seeing each other for three weeks." she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world._

"_So? I really care about you." he replied, kissing her neck._

_Two weeks later, her virginity was no more. By Valentine's Day, she and Scott were no more. When he sent her the text message telling her that he thought they should see other people, she cried not because she missed him, but because she missed that little part of herself that she lost to him._

_Seth Testaburger called a couple of weeks later. He asked if she was okay because he had heard about her relationship with Kyren. She decided not to tell him about Scott. He asked about her ankle, which had been out of it's cast for almost a month at that point. He wanted to go to physical therapy with her and take her out. She thought of that day back at her house, right after Thanksgiving. That was what made her say yes._

_Their date was a simple one. Dinner and then back to his house. They watched movies in his room and she briefly wondered why his parents didn't demand that he keep the door open. Still, he didn't sit next to her. He situated himself on the floor, on a beanbag. She sat on the bed, wondering why he wasn't trying to make a move on her. Halfway through the movie, he spoke._

"_This is pretty lame, huh?" he asked, getting up from the beanbag and sitting next to her on the bed. She smiled._

"_Just a little bit." she replied. She looked at him and saw that he wasn't making eye contact. He looked nervous, which was weird for him. Seth Testaburger did not get nervous, especially around the opposite sex. Seth Testaburger had been the Kenny McCormick of the class of 2005. He had the "sweet hockey body" that Cartman often pointed out about himself, but he was also a genuinely nice guy. Plus he had that whole save the world mentality, which made a lot of girls hot in the pants. That was why he scored so much and Mandi had watched him go after many a conquest, being smooth and nice and then hot and heavy and finally the poor girl would show up to his games, weepy and mournful, and Seth would explain to that it just wasn't going to work out. He had gotten a girlfriend his senior year, a girl on the tennis team. Everyone had been shocked about it and had never expected it to last. Mandi, however, had gotten the real story from him on Myspace. He had taken to talking to her more and more that year, outside of the usual banter they had enjoyed whenever she went to talk to Wendy about something. Kyren had suspected that Seth was in love with her, but Mandi had never agreed with that theory until the daisies. Then it had all made sense._

"_I really like you." he said, looking down at his feet. She was both shocked and not at all shocked._

"_I think I've always known that." she replied, blushing. He had always teased her when she came over to hang out with Wendy. She had gone to a few of his hockey games with Janae, whose boyfriend their sophomore year had been on the team. He always took time to talk to her, ask her how she was, make her laugh. _

"_I wanted to tell you last year. When I came to your house over Thanksgiving break, I didn't care that you and Kyren were still together. I wanted to kiss you. I wanted to tell you how I felt. Pretty shitty, huh?" he asked. _

"_Not really." she replied, shocking both him and herself._

"_No?" he asked, looking at her for the first time since he sat next to her. _

_Her response was to take his hand. He reached out and smoothed some of her hair out of her eyes, then leaned in and kissed her. A part of her had known that this was coming. A bigger part was glad that +it happened, even though she thought it would just be a hook-up. In fact, she didn't know that it was an actual relationship until Seth changed his relationship status on Myspace and moved her into the number one slot on his top friends. When Wendy had demanded answers, Mandi had simply shrugged._

--

For whatever reason, all of the girls had decided to gather at Mandi's house to get ready for Homecoming. Mandi had known that Rebecca and Janae were coming over, but she was shocked when Wendy, Bebe, and Jessica had come knocking on her door. She raised her eyebrow at them when she opened it.

"Um, can I…help you?" she asked, glancing at the plastic covered dresses draped over their arms. Bebe smiled and held up a silver carrying case that Mandi assumed was a make-up kit of some kind.

"We thought we would get ready with you guys. Token rented a stretch limo and Wendy wants to cram everyone in it." Bebe explained.

"It's better for the environment that way." Wendy said.

"I see…" Mandi said, still unsure what that had to do with getting ready together. Jessica sighed in frustration, as if Mandi had the inability to comprehend the situation.

"So move out of the way. I know how to do hair and you probably need my help." she said, pushing past Mandi and walking inside her house. Mandi frowned.

"Why no, Jessica, don't just stand outside. Come on in." Mandi said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. Wendy and Bebe walked inside as well.

"Please, Mandi. I mean, we're practically family, what with you boning my brother and all." Jessica said, walking into the kitchen. Mandi blushed.

"Why does everyone think that?" she asked, rolling her eyes. Wendy just shrugged.

"Because it's Seth." Bebe said, shrugging. Mandi sighed, but decided not to push the argument.

"Whatever. We're all upstairs." she said, watching Jessica walk up the stairs and disappear around the corner. Not the way to Mandi's room, either, but the way to Desirae's. Mandi rolled her eyes.

"My sister has that bitchy cheerleader thing down." Wendy said. Mandi laughed.

"Yeah she does." Bebe said, choosing not to remind Wendy that she had once been a cheerleader.

"Why is she going to my sister's room?" Mandi asked, amused.

"I think she thinks they are friends or something. Since she's going to Homecoming with Kenny and your sister is going with Cartman. Kenny and Cartman are best friends, so she thinks they have to be friends." Bebe said.

"Wait, what? My sister is going to Homecoming with Cartman?!" Mandi replied, incredulous.

"I thought everyone knew that." Wendy said, looking at her. Janae chose that moment to descend the stairs.

"Mandi, what the hell is taking you so goddamn long? Who is it?" she asked, not noticing Bebe or Wendy.

"Hey, Janae." Bebe said, smiling at her. Janae gave her a weird look.

"Do I want to ask?" she asked, looking at Mandi.

"Something about getting ready here and riding in a limo because it's better for the environment or something. Fuck if I know." Mandi replied, shrugging.

Janae grinned and motioned for Bebe and Wendy to follow her upstairs. Mandi followed suit.

--

Desirae was minding her own business when Jessica chose that moment to burst into her room. She put down her copy of Cosmo and looked up at Jessica, both amused and confused.

"Can I help you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Jessica smiled at her.

"You're going to the dance with Eric Cartman. I'm going with his best friend, Kenny. Kenny McCormick." Jessica said, smiling at Desirae. Desirae did not smile back.

"I know who Kenny is." she replied. Jessica frowned.

"Really? How?" she asked. Desirae's mind drifted to the night two years ago when she and Kenny had hooked up in the backseat of Mandi's car. Mandi still didn't know about that. Kenny had been the first guy she had ever let get to second base and a month later, she had finally had sex with him. Kenny had a thing for virgins, apparently.

"School. Plus he took my sister out a few times." Desirae said, deciding not to tell Jessica about Kenny's little fetish. She would find out soon enough.

"Mandi?" Jessica replied, frowning again.

"Yeah. I think he was between Bryden and Clyde, but I could be wrong." she replied, shrugging.

"But…your sister is dating my brother…" Jessica said, confused.

"She wasn't dating him then. This was before Scott Tenorman, even." Desirae replied.

"I see." Jessica said, sitting down on Desirae's bed. Desirae shot her a dirty look, but Jessica didn't see it.

"So I'm thinking we should get ready together. We have to stick together, right? Since we're going to be sophomores going with seniors and everything." Jessica said, smiling at Desirae. Desirae frowned.

"I doubt Cartman and I will spend much time dancing." she said.

"What? What do you mean?" Jessica asked. She assumed they would just sit on the bleachers the entire time, which didn't sound fun to her at all.

"You think I give a rat's ass about a stupid fucking high school dance? Cartman only asked me because I'm a sure thing. I only said yes because he knows what he's doing." Desirae replied. Jessica had no idea what she meant for a second, then she got with the program.

"You mean…you two…you're going to have sex?" she whispered. Desirae started laughing.

"Whispering it doesn't change the meaning, Jessica." Desirae replied.

"Well…I…I…I…just…I…how old are you?" Jessica asked.

"Sixteen." Desirae answered.

"I see." Jessica replied, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Spare me the mom lecture and tell me what the hell you want." Desirae said, not in the mood for Jessica's prudish bullshit.

"We get ready together. My best friend won't get ready with me…or even talk to me. She's Kenny's sister and she hates that we're dating." Jessica said, picking up a plastic covered dress and a red carrying case. Desirae sighed.

"I haven't even decided what I'm wearing yet." she replied, rolling her eyes. Jessica's eyes almost bugged out of her head.

"It's almost one! How have you not decided?" she demanded.

"I have yet to go to my sister's closet and steal something from her." Desirae replied, shrugging. Jessica immediately headed for Desirae's closet and began sorting through everything, ignoring Desirae's protests. Finally, she emerged with a pink strapless dress that was still in it's plastic bag. She held it out to Desirae.

"Here. Wear this. It's pretty and it will go well with your complexion. And by the looks of it, you've never worn it." Jessica said. Desirae took the dress and sighed.

"I could easily borrow something of Mandi's." she said, rolling her eyes. Jessica shook her head.

"No way. Mandi has like four inches and fifteen pounds on you. Nothing of hers would fit you right." she said. Desirae gaped at her.

"Did you just call my sister fat?" she asked, shocked. Jessica shrugged.

"Not fat. But she does weigh more than you do. What are you, about 5'4"? And maybe 130 pounds?" Jessica asked, looking her up and down. Desirae shrugged, even though Jessica was exactly right.

"Maybe." she said. Jessica nodded.

"And your sister is like 5'8" and 145 or so?" she asked. Desirae shrugged again. Like she knew.

"I have no idea." she said. Jessica nodded.

"Well, obviously my brother has an ass fetish." she said. Desirae wanted to puke.

--

Seth grinned to himself as he handed the airline representative his suitcase to check. He didn't think about how his coach was going to castrate him for missing practice or how he would be missing three classes on Monday and two on Tuesday. Instead, he thought about how he was going to surprise Mandi by showing up at the dance. He thought about how he was going to walk in, cut in on her dance with Kyren, and make her smile. And hopefully get into her pants at Token's party. He glanced up at the clock and grinned. He would be in Denver by 5:30. Then he would have one of his friends pick him up from the airport and take him to his house, where he would change into his tux that he had wound up buying after Prom his senior year and borrow his dad's car. And explain what he was doing to his parents. Because they had no idea that he was coming.

--

Four and a half hours later, Mandi, Janae, Bebe, Rebecca, and Wendy all stood in front of the mirror in Mandi's mom's giant bathroom. It had taken all afternoon, but Wendy had doled out assignments to each of them when it came to getting dressed and helping each other. Somehow, they had all managed to each other's hair, nails, and make-up in record time. Janae grinned at their reflections.

"We look damn good." she said. Wendy nodded in agreement.

"Token is going to cream his pants, Wendy." Bebe said, grinning at her. Wendy rolled her eyes.

"And Scott Tenorman might actually make it on the sex offenders list after tonight." she replied. Mandi went pale.

"Scott Tenorman? He's coming to my house?" she asked. Bebe shook her head.

"No. Hell no. I'm smarter than that. He's meeting me at the dance." she said. Mandi let out a sigh of relief.

"Man, Bebe, you're lucky my brother isn't here. He hates Scott." Wendy said, shaking her head.

"Can I ask why you're dating him, anyway?" Rebecca said, glancing over at Bebe.

"Yeah, you know he only wants one thing." Janae said, rolling her eyes. She and Mandi had had the same conversation about fifty times.

"He likes me. I like him. We have fun. We're not having sex. Just let me be happy, okay?" Bebe said, rolling her eyes.

"Just leave her alone about it. It's her choice." Mandi said. Bebe shot her a grateful look.

--

An hour later, Token's giant limo pulled up in front of Mandi's house. Token had apparently called everyone's dates because Kyren, Butters, and even Derrick Hartman got out of the limo and walked towards Mandi's front door. Mandi's mom answered, smiling at each boy and tell him how nice he looked. When she saw Kyren, she got misty-eyed. Mandi rolled her eyes and told everyone to head to the family room so her mom could take about eight thousand pictures. Which she did. It literally took half an hour.

"Sorry about that." she told everyone once the photo session was finished. Token shrugged.

"No problem. I had a feeling that that was going to happen." he said, grinning.

"Look, Mandi. I'm sorry that we have to ride with everyone." Kyren said, taking her arm and pulling her off to the side. She gave him a weird look.

"I'm not. It's going to be a lot of fun." she replied. Kyren just shrugged.

"Okay everyone! Now, have a good time tonight!" Mandi's mom said, coming back into the room. Mandi rolled her eyes.

"We will, Mom." she replied. Her mom glanced up and saw that Kyren still had Mandi's arm. She smiled and nodded.

"Well, looks like you will, anyway." she said, smiling at Kyren's hand on Mandi's arm. Mandi followed the direction of her gaze and snatched her arm out of Kyren's grasp.

"Whatever. Let's just get this bullshit over with." Mandi said, suddenly really wishing she could go with Seth instead of Kyren.

--

Cartman pulled into the driveway just as the limo was turning the corner. Kenny's car was broken down again, so that poor piece of shit had somehow talked Cartman into letting him ride with him.

"There goes something that Token paid for." Kenny said, staring at the limo. Cartman rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, you poor piece of shit." Cartman snapped. Kenny looked at him, a little shocked. Before he could say something, though, Mandi's front door opened and Mandi's mom came down the front steps, giving Kenny and Cartman a questioning look.

"Aren't you two in Mandi's class?" she asked, eyeing them. Cartman nodded.

"Yes, Mrs. Smith. My my, you look beautiful today. Too bad I already have a date for this thing." Kenny said, grinning at Mandi's mom. Cartman rolled his eyes.

"Oh…well…thank you." she replied, blushing. Desirae and Jessica appeared next to her.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Desirae asked. She filled out the dress that Jessica had picked out for her very well. She had twisted her hair up into a sleek bun. Cartman couldn't wait to mess it up.

"Oh, girls. I'm just talking to your dates." Mrs. Smith replied, blushing. Desirae rolled her eyes.

"Chill, Mrs. Robinson." she said, walking down the steps and standing next to Cartman. He wiggled his eyebrows to signify his appreciation for her dress and she elbowed him in the side.

"Oh Des." Mrs. Smith said, blushing again.

"Hi Kenny." Jessica said shyly. Kenny looked her up and down. She was wearing a light blue halter dress that poofed out at the hips and stopped a few inches below her knees. He resisted the urge to let out a wolf whistle.

"Wait a minute…Kenny? Desirae, didn't you two used to date?" Mrs. Smith asked, staring at Kenny.

"I wouldn't call it dating." Desirae replied. Mrs. Smith's eyes went wide.

"Then what would you call it, dear?" she asked, confused.

"Boning? Meaningless sex? Wham, bam, thank you ma'am? Take your pick." Desirae replied, shrugging. Jessica gasped a little.

"You two had sex?" Jessica asked, looking between Kenny and Desirae.

"Like fifty million years ago." Desirae replied. She turned and headed towards Cartman's car. Mrs. Smith stared after her, incredulous.

"Desirae Dawn Smith! We obviously have a lot that we need to discuss!" she said, caught somewhere between humiliated, shocked, and pissed. Desirae laughed.

"What, are you going to give me the talk? You knew I was having sex." she said, shrugging. Kenny literally thought that Mrs. Smith was about to faint.

"We are having a nice long talk when you get home, young lady." Mrs. Smith said, narrowing her eyes. Desirae rolled hers.

"Whatever. We're going now." she said, glaring at Cartman.

"I thought you were a virgin, Kenny." Jessica said quietly. Cartman started laughing.

"Kenny? A virgin? Yeah right." he said, wiping tears from his eyes.

Jessica got in the backseat and crossed her arms, going into full pout mode. Kenny made no mood to stop her. Desirae, completely ignoring the awkwardness in the backseat, turned Cartman's radio on.

"Bitch, did I say you could touch that?" he asked, shooting her a dirty look.

"Do I care what you say?" Desirae asked, smiling sweetly. He sighed and rolled his eyes, but he didn't touch the radio.

--

"I think I'll have the chicken parmesan." Mandi said, handing her menu to the waiter. He smiled and wrote it down before taking her menu.

"Excellent choice." he said. Mandi gave him a small smile. She glanced around the restaurant. It wasn't the fanciest place in Denver, but $45 for a plate of chicken parmesan was a little bit steep in her opinion. As if reading her mind, Token smiled at her.

"Don't worry, this is all going on one check. My treat. Well, my father's treat, anyway." he said, grinning.

"Wendy, I might leave my boyfriend and date yours." Rebecca said, winking at Token. They laughed together and Wendy joined in, but Butters just looked sullen.

"Butters, she's joking." Janae said, nudging him under the table. He mustered up a smile.

"I know." he replied. His tone didn't sound convincing, but Rebecca either didn't notice or chose not to delve into the topic any farther.

"Sorry again." Kyren whispered to Mandi, touching her hand under the table. She moved her hand away.

"For what?" she asked. This marked the eighth time he had apologized.

"Everything. This should have been our night together. Not as friends. As…well…you know." he said, looking directly at her. She felt her stomach drop down to her knees.

"Kyren, I've been seeing Seth for almost seven months now. It's not like it's not serious or anything. I don't want to leave him. I'm not just biding time until you come to your senses." she said. His eyes told her that her comment stung, but he didn't say anything else. Nor did he try to touch her under the table again.

--

"This is your idea of a nice dinner?" Desirae asked, incredulous, as Cartman pulled into an empty parking space right outside King Jimmy's Buffet.

"What's wrong with it?" Cartman asked, unbuckling his seatbelt. Desirae shot him a dirty look.

"Discount chicken strips will not get you into my panties, buster." she said, rolling her eyes.

"A fucking Slurpee from Six Twelve will get you into her pants." Jessica said, unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out the of car. Desirae rolled her eyes.

"That girl needs to stop living in the past." she said, shaking her head. Kenny shot her a dirty look.

"You didn't have to say anything. Why would you blow my cover like that?" he asked. Desirae turned around to look at him.

"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm surprised she didn't know earlier! The whole goddamn school found out when that happened, Kenny!" she said, her voice going shrill. Cartman grabbed her wrist.

"We're not doing this. Get your ass into the restaurant, bitch. I'm fucking hungry." he said.

--

An hour and almost $500 in food later, Wendy found herself back in the limo, en route to Park County High School. Token kept moving his hand to her leg, rubbing the silk. She figured it was supposed to excite her, but it really just annoyed her to no end. She had somehow managed to get by with not having sex with him for three weeks, and she was planning on keeping it that way.

"Why are you so tense?" he asked, scooting closer to her. She frowned and scooted over, nearly into Bebe's lap. Bebe made a surprised noise, but said nothing.

"I'm not tense." she replied, wondering if a dress could catch on fire like pants did.

"What is your deal lately? You've been stone cold and I don't fucking get it, Wendy." Token said, his tone turning angry. Mandi elbowed Janae.

"I'm not fighting with you." Wendy said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh, but why not? That seems to be the one way that you'll talk to me lately!" he said. Everyone else shifted uncomfortably.

"Not true." Wendy said. Even though it was.

"What the hell is with those two?" Derrick whispered to Janae. She shrugged.

"Fuck if I know. I'm just here for the free limo ride." she said.

"Cartman? Where the fuck does Cartman even come into this?" Wendy screeched. Mandi's eyes widened.

"Okay, I missed it. What?" Janae whispered to her.

"Something about how she argues in debate, but that's one thing. Then Token said something about how she never has time for him. Then Wendy said something else about debate. Then Token said something about how there are some people there who she's really interested in. Then Wendy asked him what the fuck that was supposed to mean, then he said her thing for Cartman was really obvious." Mandi said, turning back to the fight.

"Don't even talk about our sex life in front of our friends! My God, Token, what is your deal?!" Wendy yelled. Janae turned to Mandi again.

"Token said something about how she gets off from debate and that he can't get her off or some shit. Then she asked what that was supposed to mean, and he said that he obviously wasn't fulfilling her needs and that she always acted like sex with him was a chore. Then she said that. You need to pay more attention, Janae." Mandi said, sighing. She smiled, though.

"Yeah right, Wendy. Like you really fucking care!" Token yelled. Janae turned to Mandi, who shrugged. They both looked at Rebecca.

"What?" she asked.

"We missed it." Mandi said, gesturing towards Wendy and Token. Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"I'm not paying attention, Mandi." she said. Janae narrowed her eyes. Rebecca sighed.

"Okay, so it was something about how we're not Token's friends, we're Wendy's friends. He doesn't hang out with nerds like us. Then Wendy said something about how all of his friends are meathead jocks and then Token got pissed off and said something about how she sure likes Cartman and he fits into that category, and then she told him that he needed to leave Cartman out of it. Then she asked if he was jealous and he said that. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but then again, she is arguing with Token." Rebecca said, shrugging.

"Fine. Don't fucking talk to me tonight, then!" Wendy said, getting out of the limo, lifting up her dress, and storming off. Mandi wanted to say something about how it wasn't wise to storm off on the interstate, but she realized that they were parked just outside of the gym. She glanced over at Token, who was running a hand through his hair, annoyed. He looked up when he felt her staring.

"Look…Mandi…can you….can you talk to her?" he asked, sighing. Mandi could have been the nice girl that she was. She could have smiled and said sure, then smoothed things over. Unfortunately, Mandi was not that girl anymore. So instead of smiling at Token, she scowled at him.

"Sorry, Token. I'm just too much of a nerd to do that. I mean, I doubt I have the social skills required." she said, storming out of the limo herself. Token shot a look at Kyren, but he shrugged.

"Don't ask me to talk to Mandi." he said, also getting out of the limo. Token looked around and realized that he was literally the only one still inside. He sighed and followed everyone into the gym, hoping that he and Wendy could patch things up and not totally ruin their senior Homecoming.

--

Seth grinned as he opened the door to his house. He walked through the living room and found his mom in the kitchen, stirring a pan of what looked like vegetable soup. She looked up at him, clearly shocked.

"Fall break came early?" she asked. He grinned and kissed her cheek.

"I'm taking Mandi to Homecoming." he replied. His mother narrowed her eyes.

"This was her idea?" she asked.

"Nope. She doesn't even know about it." he replied, rather cheerfully. She wanted to say something to him, like how risking his grades for what she saw as a fling was a stupid idea, or how they were not paying for him to fly home on a whim for some stupid high school dance, but she kept her mouth shut. Instead, she smiled.

"I hope you remembered to get her a corsage." she said. He grinned.

"Picked one up at the airport, actually." he replied. He tossed it onto the counter and headed toward his father's office. He knocked on the door lightly and then walked in. His father looked up from a stack of papers and frowned.

"Why did I have a feeling you would be showing up today?" he asked. Then he grinned. Seth laughed.

"You know me too well, I guess." Seth said, shrugging.

"I heard Mandi mention that she was going to the dance with that weird religious kid." he said.

"You heard her mention it or you saw it on her Myspace?" Seth asked, raising an eyebrow. His dad blushed.

"Okay, maybe I saw it on Wendy's Myspace. I have to keep up with you kids somehow." he said, shrugging. Seth rolled his eyes.

"Are you going to lecture me like Mom was aching to?" Seth asked, bracing himself. His dad shook his head.

"You had straight A's when I got your midterm grades. You haven't seen your girlfriend since Labor Day weekend. You miss her, I get it. A few days away from school aren't going to hurt your grades too much." he said. Seth grinned.

"I'm glad someone gets it." he said.

"I take it Mandi has no idea that you're here." his dad said, smiling. Seth shook his head.

"Nope. I would have told her, but I wanted this entire thing to be a surprise." he said. His father nodded.

"Just…just be careful, Seth." he said. Seth looked at him, confused. Then he realized what he meant.

"We're not even at that level yet, Dad." he said, smiling. His dad shot him a look that clearly said "Yeah right".

"Seth, you can be honest with me. My God, you're almost twenty. It's okay if you're having sex with your girlfriend." he said. Seth shook his head.

"I'm really not. Yet, anyway. I'm hoping to change that soon." Seth said, grinning. His dad grinned back.

"You've been dating this one for what, six months now?" his dad asked.

"Seven. Well, almost." he replied, grinning.

"Seven months and you're okay with not sleeping with her? You used to go through them in high school like used Kleenex." his dad said. Seth shrugged.

"And I never loved any of them, did I?" he replied.

--

"Wendy, come on." Bebe said. She had been trying to coax her best friend out of the bathroom for twenty minutes. She could hear Wendy sniffling, but so far she hadn't said anything. Janae walked into the bathroom and shot her a sympathetic look.

"How's it going?" she asked, gesturing towards the bathroom stall. Bebe shook her head sadly.

"She doesn't want to even answer me, much less come out of there." Bebe replied, throwing her hands in the air. Janae grimaced.

"Look…Rebecca went off to dance with Butters and Mandi is still out in the hallway. I know Scott is supposed to be meeting you soon and I doubt you want him to see Mandi." Janae said, giving her a pointed look. Bebe nodded.

"Good point. Uh…take over for me, okay?" she said, heading for the door. Janae sighed and knocked softly on Wendy's stall door.

"Wendy? Come on. Token is a dick, just come out and have fun." she said. Like she really knew what to say to Wendy.

Bebe made it into the hallway just in time to see Scott approach Mandi. She wanted to keep him from having something torn off, but at the same time, she wanted to see how it played out. Curiosity got the better of her and she crept back to where no one could see her.

"Oh…Mandi." Scott said, staring at her.

"Scott." Mandi replied. He couldn't read her expression, but he took it as a good sign that she wasn't ripping his balls off.

"I'm uh…Bebe…is she here?" Scott asked, jamming his hands into his pockets. Mandi gestured in the general direction of the ladies' room.

"Wendy's having a crisis. Bebe is playing mediator." Mandi replied, shrugging. Scott nodded.

"Aha. Well…uh…shit. I don't know. This is weird." he said. Mandi nodded.

"Yes. Yes it is." she replied.

"So…uh…where's your date?" he asked, trying to make conversation. She shrugged.

"Probably off in the men's room, masturbating and crying. Tears are good lubrication." she replied. Scott chuckled.

"He's already having that terrible of a time?" he asked, smiling.

"When is he not having a terrible time?" Mandi replied, looking towards the bathroom. Where the fuck was Bebe?

"Who is it, anyway?" Scott asked.

"Kyren." Mandi replied, rolling her eyes. Scott smiled.

"Hey, you guys got back together. Congratulations." he said. Mandi scowled.

"No. We're not back together." she said. Scott nodded.

"Oh…I see." he said. Mandi shrugged. They stood there in awkward silence before Mandi finally decided to say something.

"I should go find Bebe." she said. Scott shook his head.

"Wait. I should…I feel like…I'm sorry." he said, staring at the floor. Mandi did a double take.

"What are you sorry for, Scott?" she asked.

"For everything that happened between us. I really did like you, Mandi. I just…I don't know. I felt like I was some kind of rebound for you. I shouldn't have pushed you to have sex. That was wrong of me. I just hope you don't hate me too much." he said, looking up at her nervously. Mandi frowned. She wasn't too sure what to say.

"Um…apology accepted, I guess." she replied, shrugging. She literally never expected him to apologize for anything that had happened, but she was sort of glad that he had. Bebe picked that moment to emerge from the bathroom. She was smiling at Scott and he smiled back.

"Someone looks gorgeous tonight." he said, looking Bebe up and down. Mandi rolled her eyes. Maybe he hadn't changed, but at least he had some tiny bit of a conscience buried under all that so-called sex appeal. She headed into the bathroom to see if Wendy had come out yet and found Janae banging on Wendy's stall door.

"Goddammit, Wendy. Stop acting like a fucking freshman. Token is a stupid fucking BOY! What kind of example are you setting, huh? HUH?" Janae demanded. Mandi stifled a giggle.

"Janae, what the hell?" she asked, walking over to her and standing beside her. Janae looked at Mandi, relief spreading over her face.

"Oh thank God. Bebe fucking abandoned me in here because she didn't want you and Scott to have some kind of encounter out there." Janae said. Mandi sighed.

"Too bad we did." she said. Janae's eyes widened.

"Okay, and now you're going to tell me everything." Janae said. Mandi recounted the entire story. When she finished, Janae let out a long, low whistle. Mandi shrugged.

"He said sorry. Obviously we aren't going to be best buddy friends and go out for Sunday brunch together, but it's better than being afraid of encountering him, right?" she said. Janae eyed her.

"It's probably some lame attempt to get in your panties. Again." Janae said, rolling her eyes. Mandi shrugged.

"I somehow doubt it. But whatever. Now I can stop having internal panic attacks whenever I hear that he might show up." she said, shrugging. Janae didn't say anything. Finally, Wendy broke the silence.

"I guess his apologizing at least shows that he has some form of a conscience, right? So we know he thinks with the right head at least some of the time. Even if he is about eight months late with this." Wendy said, her voice heavy with emotion.

"Finally, she speaks!" Janae said, rolling her eyes. Mandi nudged her.

"Wendy, come on out. I'll let you dance with my date." Mandi said, smiling. Wendy let out a short little giggle.

"Mandi, you'll let anyone dance with your date. You're just desperate to get rid of him." Wendy said. Mandi could hear the smile in her voice.

"Exactly. Come on. You can hang out with me. We'll avoid our dates and dance together." Mandi said, smiling. Wendy laughed.

"Don't lez out." she replied.

"I guess that's an option too." Mandi replied, winking at Janae. Janae rolled her eyes.

"That's not an option if you want your dates to leave you alone, dumbass. They'll pay to see that show." Janae said. Mandi and Janae heard Wendy stand up and she finally came out of the stall. Her eyes were a little red from crying, but otherwise she looked fine. Mandi put a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"You know, no one is going to hold it against you if you break up with him." Mandi said, smiling a little. Wendy smiled back.

"I know." she replied. Janae let out a sigh of relief.

"It's about goddamn time you two broke up. Mandi, you owe me five dollars." Janae said, smirking. Mandi shook her head.

"No! You said October 1st. I had Homecoming!" Mandi said. Wendy looked at both of them in confusion. Mandi started fishing around in her purse.

"You two made bets on when Token and I would break up?" she asked. Mandi nodded.

"Don't worry, we make bets on everyone." Janae said. Mandi held up a sheet of notebook paper triumphantly.

"Aha! See, Janae? I had Homecoming!" Mandi said, grinning. Janae rolled her eyes and pulled a five dollar bill out of her purse and handed it to Mandi. Mandi stuffed it into her purse. Wendy rolled her eyes.

"You guys are so…" she said, not sure how to insult them.

"Lame?" Mandi offered.

"Pathetic?" Janae said, laughing.

"How about ridiculous?" Mandi said.

"Or desperately in need of lives?" Janae said. Wendy laughed.

"All of the above?" she said. She smiled and they both relaxed a little.

"Come on. Let's go get this goddamn dance over with." Mandi said, linking her arm through Wendy's. Janae hooked her arm through Mandi's and they walked into the gym together.

--

Red snuggled up against Stan and grinned. He smiled at her, but he really felt like pushing her away.

"So…when do you want to head back to my place?" Red asked, wrapping her arms around his waist. He shrugged.

"Actually, I thought we might hang out here tonight." he said, smiling. Red frowned.

"What do you mean here? I don't want to hang out here." she said, pulling away from him.

"But I do. I mean, I promised Kyle…" Stan said, scanning the room for Kyle. Hopefully Kyle wouldn't be a dick about it.

"Screw Kyle. What about ME?" Red asked, crossing her arms. Stan sighed.

"Red, come on. I spend every waking moment with you lately. I want to hang out with my friends." he said.

"Every waking moment my ass! Admit it, Stan. You don't want to hang out with me because you don't like me!" she said, her voice starting to crack. Stan moved to embrace her, but she took a few steps back.

"You know that's not true." Stan said, looking down.

"You're so goddamn obsessed with her that you can't see what you have right in front of you!" Red said, pointing a perfect French tip manicured finger in Rebecca's direction. Rebecca was standing at the food table with Bebe, laughing about something. He took a second to notice how great she looked in her dress before turning around to look at Red again. It was then that he noticed that she was wearing the exact same dress as Rebecca.

"I'm not obsessed. You need to stop being so crazy." Stan said. He turned to look at Rebecca.

"Unbelievable! You stare at her right in front of me!" Rebecca said, actually stamping her foot. Stan wanted to laugh at her since she was acting like an angry toddler, but he really didn't want those perfectly manicured nails digging into his eye sockets. Or one of those four inch stiletto heels up his ass.

"Come on, Red. I am not." Stan said, looking over at Rebecca again. Red smacked his arm.

"Just answer one question for me, Stan. Do you love me?" she asked, her eyes bright with unshed tears. He could have nodded. He could have said something about being unsure about it. Instead, he looked away. That was the only answer that Red needed. As the tears began to fall, Stan moved to embrace her again. She pushed him away and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Red. I really am." he said. She shook her head.

"You…you are such a dick, Stanley Marsh! I can't believe I didn't see this before! I loved you!" she said.

"Red, come on." he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She pushed him with force this time.

"Keep your fucking hands off of me! I can't believe you! It is SO over!" she yelled, stomping out of the gym. Stan shook his head and sighed. Kyle chose that moment to walk over and stand by Stan.

"You probably shouldn't stare at your ex-girlfriend when you're trying to tell your current girlfriend that you're not obsessed. It makes it more believable." Kyle said. Stan shot him a dirty look.

"Yeah? Well now they're both my ex-girlfriends." he said, sighing. Kyle shrugged.

"Dude, I really don't know what to tell you. You were the one who broke up with Rebecca for Red. It's not my fault that you conveniently forgot to get over Rebecca." Kyle said.

"I didn't want to break up with her…" Stan said. He meant Rebecca, but Kyle assumed otherwise.

"Then I suggest you give her maybe half an hour to calm down. Otherwise she might hurt you. Then you go talk to her and make up some bullshit excuse about how she and Rebecca are wearing the same dress." Kyle said. Stan stared at him.

"Dude, not Red. NOT Red." he said, shaking his head. Kyle frowned.

"If you mean Rebecca, then I suggest you stay away from that situation again. She has a boyfriend, dude." he said, gesturing towards Butters. Stan rolled his eyes.

"Butters is such a pussy." he said. Kyle nodded.

"But he's also dating her. Leave it alone, dude. Focus on…shit…I don't know. Focus on football or school or other shit that you should be focusing on right now. Girls are going to be the death of you, I swear to God." Kyle said, rolling his eyes.

"Thanks Dr. Phil. I'm so glad you're in our studio audience today." Stan said. Kyle shrugged.

"Dude, I know you're going to do what you want. You never listen to me, but I'm always right in the end." Kyle said. Stan knew he was right, but that didn't keep him from shooting him a dirty look anyway.

--

When Seth's ring tone began going off, Mandi frowned at her phone. She gestured towards the phone and Janae nodded. She walked out of the gym and towards the bathrooms, answering the phone as she approached them.

"Hey." she said, surprise evident in her voice. She didn't think Seth would call during the dance.

"Hey babe." he said, the smile evident in his voice. This made her smile.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Everything is great. I just wanted to know if you were having fun." he said.

"Oh…kind of. Token is being an asshole again." she said. Seth grunted something that sounded like "what else is new?".

"Hmm. Well…where are you right now?" he asked.

"In the bathroom. Why?" she asked.

"The one by the gym?" he asked.

"Yeah…" she said.

"Hey, do me a favor." he said.

"What?" she replied.

"Go out to the trophy case and see if my hockey trophy has my name on it yet." he said. She laughed.

"I'm sure it does, Seth." she said.

"Do it anyway." he said. She walked out of the bathroom and over to the trophy case. She scanned through the trophies and finally located the one that he was referring to. Sure enough, it had his name engraved on it.

"Yeah, it has your name on it." she said.

"I could have told you that." he said, walking up behind her. She spun around and let out a little squeal.

"You're here?" she asked, shocked. He grinned.

"Yup. In the flesh. I couldn't let you go to the dance with Kyren, now could I?" he replied. She threw her arms around him, wanting to freeze time. She breathed in his scent and sighed contentedly. He laughed.

"God, I've missed you." she said, not caring how lame she sounded. He responded by wrapping his arms around her tighter.

"Come on, let's go dance." he said, unwrapping her arms from around him and taking her hand. He led her into the gym just as some lame Savage Garden came on. He pulled her into the middle of the dance floor and wrapped his arms around her. She laid her head on his chest and smiled, swaying slowly to the music.

--

Bebe almost crapped her pants when she looked out onto the dance floor. She nudged Wendy, who was chowing down on chocolate chip cookies right next to her.

"Call me crazy, but is Mandi with your brother?" Bebe asked. Wendy gave her a weird look.

"You're just now figuring that one out? They've been together since March, Bebe. Get with the program." Wendy said. Bebe shook her head.

"No, I mean now. Look." she said, pointing to Mandi and Seth on the dance floor. Wendy's eyes widened.

"Well, she's enjoying herself too much for that to be Kyren." Wendy said. Bebe nodded.

"Kyren is going to be pissed." Bebe said. In typical perfect timing fashion, Kyren chose that moment to walk up to Bebe and Wendy.

"Why am I going to be pissed?" he asked. Wendy shot Bebe a questioning glance and Bebe shrugged.

"Um…" Bebe said. Kyren scanned the room.

"Have you seen Mandi? I want to ask her to dance. This song was the first one that we ever danced to." he said, smiling wistfully. Wendy and Bebe exchanged nervous glances.

"Um…well…" Wendy started to say. The shocked look on Kyren's face made her stop, though.

"I didn't even know that Seth was coming." Kyren said, his voice low. Bebe shrugged.

"None of us did…" Bebe said, not sure what else she could say. The poor kid was obviously still head over heels in love with Mandi. Kyren's face registered absolute devastation as he watched Seth lean down to kiss Mandi. Bebe thought it was really sweet that Seth had flown so far to see Mandi, but she didn't say anything. Finally, Wendy decided to break the awkward silence.

"Well, this is just about the shittiest Homecoming ever, isn't it?" she asked. Kyren grunted. Wendy decided to just shut her mouth and go back to staring at Mandi and Seth like Kyren and Bebe were doing. As she watched them play tonsil hockey, she noticed that Token was standing near them, looking slightly disgusted. She sighed and realized what she had to do. As she walked towards him, he looked up and saw her. Instead of looking happy, though, he just looked pissed off. As she pulled him into the hallway, he mentally prepared himself for what she would say.

"We need to talk." she said, once she had pulled him into a private corner. He sighed.

"Yeah." he replied.

"This hasn't been working for awhile." she said, sighing. She hated break-ups.

"No. It really hasn't." he replied, shrugging. Wendy hadn't expected him to agree with her, so that caught her off guard. She stared at him for a moment before continuing.

"I think we should break up. We're going to be in two different places next year and I don't feel right continuing on like this. All we ever seem to do is fight and I hate it." she said. Token nodded.

"Yeah. I don't love you like I used to." he said. Wendy was grateful for his honesty.

"And I'm not sure if I ever loved you to begin with." she replied. He took a step back, as if Wendy had slapped him.

"Fair enough, I guess. See you around." he said, turning and walking off. She sighed and slid down onto the floor. She was glad to end it. It made her feel lighter, somehow.

--

Three hours later, everyone piled into their respective vehicles and headed for Token's mansion. Mandi had decided to ride with Seth instead of getting back into the limo and facing Kyren and Wendy had bummed a ride with them, not wanting to face Token. They made a pit stop at Mandi's before heading to Token's so that they could change. Wendy rolled her eyes as Seth and Mandi disappeared into the same room, presumably to change. Their affection for each other might have been cute to other people, but it made her want to puke. She had her dress off and a sweater and jeans on within five minutes of arriving at Mandi's. Assuming that Mandi and Seth would be taking their sweet time in Mandi's bedroom, she settled down in the living room to watch TV. After she had been channel surfing for about two minutes, Bebe called.

"Hey." Wendy said, picking up the phone.

"Hey. Where are you?" Bebe asked.

"At Mandi's. We made a pit stop so we could change clothes. Seth and Mandi disappeared into Mandi's room and I have no idea what they are in there doing. Nor do I really want to know." Wendy replied, resisting the urge to gag.

"Sick." Bebe replied.

"Very." Wendy said, shuddering involuntarily.

"Anyway, I'm not going to come to the party." Bebe said. Wendy had kind of figured that much ever since Scott Tenorman had tracked her down. She had barely gotten five minutes alone with her to tell her about her break-up with Token.

"Do I want to ask what you're doing instead?" Wendy asked, hoping like hell it didn't involve going back to Scott's apartment.

"Oh…maybe going to UHOP or something." Bebe said. Wendy could tell that she was probably lying, but she let it go. She told Bebe to have a good time and ended the call. Just as she started channel surfing again, she heard Seth and Mandi coming into the living room. She turned off the TV and walking into the foyer to meet them at the end of the stairs. As they descended, she could see that Mandi's hair was messy and that she had a big red mark on her neck. Seth's shirt was wrinkled and he kept reaching out to touch Mandi, who was in front of him on the stairs. Whenever he would do this, she would turn around and smile at him. Wendy shook her head in absolute disgust. Somehow, she could not wrap her mind around how any of this was supposed to be cute.

"It took you guys long enough." she said, rolling her eyes. Mandi blushed a deep crimson and Seth just grinned and shrugged.

"Sorry, sis." Seth replied. Wendy shook her head.

"Well, at least you guys didn't keep me waiting longer. I'm glad you're fast." she said, immediately regretting it. Now she really would puke. Mandi blushed a deeper crimson.

"That's not…we weren't…" she stammered. Seth took her hand.

"Trust me, that's not what we were doing. That would have taken a lot longer." Seth said, winking at Mandi. Wendy made a gagging noise and walked outside. She got in the car and shook her head.

--

Token's party had been going on for about an hour by the time Stan got there. He located the keg almost immediately and filled a cup for himself, chugging it down within seconds and pouring himself another one. Kyle, who had come with him, clucked disapprovingly.

"Dude, slow down." he said, shaking his head. Stan waved him off and took his beer towards the center of Token's house, where the indoor pool was located. He saw Cartman and Desirae Smith making out in a deck chair and several members of the football team engaged in a rousing game of beer pong. He took a seat in one of the few empty chairs and sipped his beer. As he looked over at the pool, he saw that Janae Smith and some guy who looked like a black version of Cartman were playing Marco Polo with Clyde and Patty Nelson. He laughed at the situation. Of all activities for people to engage in at a party, Marco Polo was definitely not one of the more common ones.

--

"Are you really going to believe a girl you hardly know over me?" Kenny asked. He had hoped that Jessica would drop the entire argument from earlier, but she had opted to continue it. After the dance, of course. God forbid she act like something was wrong in front of her bitchy friends.

"Kenny, you do have a reputation. And my sister warned me." she said, putting her hands on her hips.

"So I've slept with other girls? What does it matter? I'm dating you now." he said. He didn't add that he had been faithful to her for almost three months at that point. And that his balls were threatening to explode.

"But you lied." she said. He rolled his eyes.

"I didn't lie…I just…didn't tell you the exact truth. So sue me." he replied, shrugging.

"And God, you probably expect me to…well…you know." she said, blushing. He shrugged again.

"Whatever happens, happens." he replied. And hopefully sex would be happening because he was not suited to monogamy unless she threw him some kind of bone. Or he gave her the bone. He snickered at his own little joke.

"I need some time to think." she said, walking away from him and over to a group of her friends. The dirty looks they sent his way suggested that they had heard bits and pieces of the story, all from her point of view. He rolled his eyes and walked off to find someone else to talk to. Maybe he could even find Desirae and they could re-create some of those moments they had shared in Mandi's backseat.

--

Seth and Mandi had gone off together almost as soon as they arrived at the party. Wendy had rolled her eyes, but she hadn't tried to stop them. Because she didn't know where her friends were, she opted to find the keg and drink like a fish. Of course, she found out very quickly that she couldn't drink beer. Instead, she found the hard liquor in one of the downstairs closets and had taken a bottle of rum for herself. She found a half empty two liter of Nurse Pepper in the refrigerator and had poured the rum into it. At first, it had tasted terrible. It had started to taste better as her blood alcohol level had gone up, though. She found herself wandering through the downstairs area of Token's house, hoping not to run into him. It seemed like everyone that she ran into was busy with something. Then she stumbled into the pool area and sat down in the only open deck chair. Well, more like she flopped down into the chair. She let out a little giggle. Falling down was absolutely hysterical to her. Stan came back to the chair a few minutes after she flopped down in it, a bottle of vodka in one hand and a two liter of 8 Down in his other hand. Wendy glanced up at him from the chair and immediately started giggling. Stan laughed right along with her.

"You took my seat." he finally said. Once they had calmed down a little, of course. She responded by scooting over. He sat down next to her, trying not to think about how weird it was to be hanging out with her, of all people.

"Where's your girlfriend?" she asked, craning her neck to see if Red was coming over. She really didn't want to move. It would take too much energy.

"I don't have one anymore." Stan replied. Somehow, this was funny, so he started cracking up again. Wendy grinned.

"Hey, me either!" she said. This, of course, made Stan laugh harder.

"You're a lesbian!" he managed to gasp out. She rolled her eyes.

"Noooooo, I mean I broke up with Token." she said. She tried to swat his arm, but somehow wound up swatting his neck instead. This triggered another bout of hysterics.

"That sucks." Stan replied, finally calming down. He took a sip of his weird drink concoction and made a face. Wendy took a sip of her giant two liter and grinned.

"Why did you and Bread rake up?" she asked, slurring her words a little. She didn't notice this, of course. Stan did, however. He laughed a little, but then frowned.

"She wanted to tie me down and shit. She was pissed because I kept staring at Rebecca. You know, lame shit like that." Stan replied, shrugging.

"Ohhhh." she said. Stan realized that she probably hadn't comprehended a word he had just said.

"Why did you and Token break up?" he asked, suddenly curious. From his perspective, things had seemed fine with them. Of course, he hadn't really paid attention to Wendy in awhile, so he was probably wrong.

"Because Token is a fucking dick." Wendy replied, shrugging. Stan's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh…" Stan replied, not sure what else to say. Luckily, Wendy saved him from that. She somehow managed to stand up and she extended her hand to him.

"Come on. Let's go explore." she said, smiling. Stan took her hand and tried to pull himself up, but that didn't work well. Finally, he let go of her and pulled himself up on his own.

"Lead the way." he said. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs.

--

Rebecca sighed and wondered how she had found her way to Token's party. Mostly, though, she wondered why she and Butters were sitting in one of the guest bedrooms, playing fucking Monopoly, of all things.

"Is everything okay?" Butters asked, frowning at her. She wondered what made him think that something wasn't okay.

"Everything is fine, Butters." she replied, trying not to grit her teeth as she said it. She couldn't help but think about the after party the year before. She and Stan had gone swimming and then had sex in one of the guest rooms. Probably the same one she was in now. She smiled at the mere memory of it.

--

Stan and Wendy had explored, alright. They had explored their way into every empty guest bedroom in Token's house, going through the closets and laughing. They kept drinking as they went through the closets, getting progressively drunker as the minutes went by. Finally, they had reached the last guest room. Wendy turned and smiled at Stan as she opened the bedroom door. Instead of throwing open the closet door like she had been doing, she flopped down on the bed. Stan wasn't sure what to do, but she motioned him over to the bed as well. He perched on the edge of it, glancing nervously at Wendy. She grinned and tugged at his sleeve until he was finally lying next to her.

"This bed is so comfy." she said.

"Yeah it is." Stan replied. He sighed and stretched a little. After a few minutes of silence, he felt Wendy reach over to take his hand. He immediately sat up and glanced at her. She smiled seductively at him, and he couldn't help but smile back. He knew that she was going to kiss him. He didn't think it was a good idea, but he wasn't about to stop her. As their lips met, he thought about how they had both just ended relationships. How they didn't even like each other. However, as she reached down to stroke his leg, he stopped thinking with his brain. He relaxed into the kiss and pushed her gently onto the bed, crawling on top of her as he did.

--

"Bad idea." Mandi said, backing out of her make out session with Seth. His hand had found it's way up her shirt and he was trying to unfasten her bra.

"Why?" Seth asked, trying to pull her back in. She shook her head.

"I am not having sex in one of Token's guest rooms." Mandi said, sitting up. Seth laughed.

"So it's not about the act. Just the location?" he asked. Mandi smiled.

"I have standards, you know." she said. He raised his eyebrows.

"Sure you do. That's why you're dating me." he replied. She swatted him playfully.

"What if we go somewhere else?" he asked, reaching over and taking her hand.

"Like where? Your parents are home." she replied. He grinned.

"And your mom took your brother to some Cub Scout thing until tomorrow, right?" he replied. Mandi smiled.

"Yeah…she did…" she replied.

"So she won't be home until tomorrow afternoon, am I right?" he asked.

"Yes, you're right." Mandi replied.

"So your house is totally empty right now." he said.

"Well, not counting the pets, yes." she replied.

"So technically I could spend the entire night with you and no one would have a problem with it." he said. She grinned.

"Okay. You've been a good boy for almost seven months now. I guess you deserve a reward for that." she replied, grinning. His eyes lit up.

"I thought my reward was what happened earlier." he said. He was referring to their joint clothes changing session right after the dance. Normally, Mandi wouldn't change in the same room as him. That night, however, she had let him stay. And then they had lost track of time and had made out for about fifteen minutes. Mandi smiled at the memory.

"Well, if you want to settle for that…" she replied, grinning. Seth laughed and stood up. He grabbed his keys from the nightstand and then pulled her up from the bed. She laughed as he led her down the stairs and to the car. As they drove to her house, she thought about how she wasn't really dreading sleeping with him, like she had been with Scott. In fact, she was pretty excited about it. She smiled and reached over and squeezed his hand. He smiled back, happy to be with someone he truly cared about.

--

Wendy realized several things when she woke up the next morning. The first was that she was completely naked under the covers. The second was that she wasn't in her bed. The third was that her head was killing her. She turned over and realized a fourth thing…that Stan Marsh was sleeping next to her. From what she could see, he was shirtless. She nudged him a few times until he finally woke up. He gave her a questioning look as he opened his eyes.

"Stan, what the hell happened last night?" she whispered. Stan shook his head.

"I really don't remember…" he replied. She frowned.

"Try." she said. He scratched his head.

"We drank…a lot. Then we came up here…" he said. She groaned.

"Oh God, did we have sex?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Maybe?" he replied. She sighed. Of course they had. It was all coming back to her.

"Stan, this was a mistake." she said. She was very happy when he nodded in agreement.

"Yes it was. No offense, Wendy, but I just…don't like you. Like that." he replied. She nodded and then immediately regretted it. Her head felt like it was about to explode.

"So we'll just forget that this ever happened." she said. He nodded in agreement.

"And we're still friends." he said.

"Yeah." she replied. Even though she could literally count the number of times that they had spoken in the past year on one hand.

"Do you, uh…need a ride or anything?" he asked. Wendy smirked.

"I think you already gave me one of those last night." she replied. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious. You didn't drive here, did you?" he asked. She shook her head and then groaned.

"Yeah, a ride would be nice." she replied. She wanted to go home and curl up under her own covers for about ten hours.

Their drive home was silent. In the most awkward way possible. When Stan finally pulled into Wendy's driveway, he didn't even say goodbye. Instead, he smiled and waved. She did the same thing and went inside, hoping that her parents weren't too pissed. To her surprise, they weren't waiting up for her. She tiptoed up the stairs and peeked into their room, where they were sleeping soundly, her father snoring like always. She tiptoed to Jessica's door and peeked in. Jessica was dead to the world. She glanced into Seth's room and saw that his bed was still made, a sure sign that he hadn't come home yet. That probably meant that he had spent the night with Mandi, which was enough to send her to the bathroom, her stomach contents coming up fast. When she finally finished throwing up, she grabbed two aspirin from the medicine cabinet and downed them with a glass of water. She stumbled down the hall and into her room where she quickly pulled on a tank top and sweatpants and crept into bed. The first rays of sunlight were just beginning to spill in through the blinds, and she groaned and threw a pillow over her head as she felt them stabbing through her eyes. She curled into the fetal position and fell asleep, hoping not to wake up until dark.

--

Author's Notes: So there you go. You'll find out the consequences of Wendy and Stan's drunken night of passion later. Sorry that this was so goddamn long, but I had an extra burst of inspiration while writing. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter…it's been my favorite one to write so far. Please review now. =D Oh, and chapter six should be up soon. I literally have nothing better to do with my time than write this goddamn story. I might even finish it before I go back to school in August. Now THERE'S a concept…


	6. Seis

Author's Notes: I'm glad this story has SO many followers…a whole two of you, lol. Oh well, I like to write it, so lucky for you. This chapter is going to be set in mid-October 2006. Right around fall break for Seth. He's in town…again. Also, since Stan's birthday is October 18th, he will have a birthday party in this chapter. And then the South Park kids will have THEIR fall break the week after. Yay. This chapter also introduces John Vanson. Well, he has a small cameo, anyway. He doesn't belong to me…he belongs to JVM-SP150. Now…read, enjoy, and review!

--

Wendy had officially started her internship with Keep South Park Beautiful the Monday after Homecoming. Not that she wanted to start it that day…she had been hung-over for about three days after her binge drinking session at Token's party. She was surprised her mom hadn't caught on when she had chalked her headache and stomachache up to a touch of the flu. Of course, she had also insisted on going to school, even though she had really wanted to die. Her mom probably would have pushed it if she had asked to stay home. Wendy was shocked that she had made such a great first impression on her first day at the internship. All she had had to do was sort flower seeds into different boxes and man the phones, but Betsy had been very impressed by her apparent "organizational skills" and had told her that if she kept up the great work, she would be promoted. A week later, Betsy had given Wendy more responsibilities, which basically included calling the local parks and asking if they needed help with litter clean-up and dividing the different volunteers into teams to clean up each park. It wasn't a lot, per se, but it really did keep her busy. She loved it. As she parked her car and walked into the small office in downtown South Park, she noticed that Betsy was loading boxes into her car. Curious, she walked over to investigate.

"What are you doing?" she asked, taking a box and putting it in the back of Betsy's station wagon.

"We're going to start raking leaves really soon. These are information packets for people." Betsy replied.

"Ohh…" Wendy replied. She helped Betsy load the rest of the boxes into her car.

"Soon you'll be in charge of teams for raking too." Betsy said. Wendy frowned.

"I will?" she asked. Betsy nodded.

"Yeah, but it's not hard. Like the litter teams. Sort of." Betsy replied.

"Oh…" Wendy replied. Betsy smiled at her and patted her arm.

"Don't worry, honey. You're good at this." she replied. Wendy relaxed a little.

"I try. I just don't want to screw something up, you know?" she said. Betsy nodded.

"Well don't worry. I'm right here to help you." she said.

"Are we doing anything about the elections?" Wendy asked, referring to the upcoming gubernatorial elections in November. Betsy contemplated this.

"Like what?" she asked. Wendy smiled.

"Well, we could hand out fliers about the different candidates and their positions on environmental issues…" Wendy said. Betsy nodded.

"That's actually not a bad idea. I'm surprised no one else has thought of that yet." Betsy said, pulling out her cell phone and making a note of it.

"That's kind of surprising." Wendy said. She assumed that someone would have done something with public policy. Environmental issues were pretty big.

"Well, we had a public policy woman, but she went on maternity leave a week ago and she won't be back until January." Betsy said, shrugging.

"She didn't leave any plans for the elections?" Wendy asked, really shocked. Wasn't a public policy woman supposed to focus solely on policy for their particular area of interest?

"Nope, not really. How about I put you in charge of it?" Betsy asked, her eyes lighting up. Wendy's eyes widened.

"In charge of it? But…I don't know that much…" Wendy said. Betsy shrugged.

"What do you really have to know? Just do some research on the candidates and come up with some kind of handout." Betsy said. She programmed this into her cell phone as she talked.

"Okay. I guess I can do that." Wendy said. She hadn't meant to become a public policy intern, but she was grateful that Betsy trusted her enough to make her the head of something. Besides, it would be good practice for when she was an environmental lawyer.

--

"Shelley! Shelley, honey!" Sharon Marsh called, trying to get the attention of her oldest daughter. Shelley rolled her eyes as she walked downstairs. She was skipping her afternoon classes to drive back to South Park and talk to her parents about God knows what. She had assumed that maybe going upstairs would make them forget, but nope. Shelley rolled her eyes and walked into the living room. Her parents were sitting on the couch. Her father kept trying to turn the TV on and her mother kept smacking the remote out of his hand whenever he would try to touch it.

"Goddammit Sharon, I'm missing the game!" Randy said, exasperated. Sharon rolled her eyes.

"Randy, we need to talk to Shelley about her wedding. We hardly ever see her anymore. Be nice." Sharon replied. Randy sighed. Shelly took a seat in the chair next to the couch.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Shelley asked. Sharon smiled. Randy gave her a dirty look.

"You look fat. You better not be knocked up." Randy said. Sharon gasped.

"Randy, for the love of God!" she exclaimed. Shelley wasn't sure whether to laugh or be offended.

"Well look at her, Sharon! She's packing on the pounds!" Randy said. Sharon shook her head.

"You're not fat, Shelley." Sharon said. Shelley just laughed.

"The hell she's not! Goddammit Shelley, you better be planning to have an abortion. Or to get married before that kid pops out. I will not have any daughter of mine being an unwed mother!" Randy said. Shelley sighed.

"Dad, I'm not pregnant." she said.

"Well then…you better stop eating so much. Your dress isn't going to fit if you keep this up." Randy said. Sharon swatted him.

"Ignore him, sweetheart. We just wanted to see how your wedding planning was coming along." Sharon said, smiling. Shelley smelled the bullshit. That question could have been taken care of with a simple phone call. They didn't have to drag her down to South Park from Fort Collins to check on that.

"It's fine, I guess." she replied. If by "fine", she meant that she had tried on two dresses and browsed a couple of wedding planning websites.

"I hope you don't expect us to pay for this." Randy said. Sharon shot him a death glare.

"It's tradition that we pay for it, Randy." Sharon said. Randy rolled his eyes.

"Then what the hell are the McCormicks going to pay for, huh, Sharon?" Randy asked. Like they could afford anything.

"We were actually thinking of postponing the wedding." Shelley said. Sharon turned and gaped at her, shocked. Randy laughed.

"I knew she wouldn't go through with it! I told you, didn't I, Sharon?" Randy said, elbowing Sharon in the side. She ignored him.

"Shelley, sweetheart, are you sure?" she asked. The wedding was supposed to be in April.

"I don't think I can plan this whole thing in six months. Plus I'm going to be so busy with classes next semester…" Shelley said, shrugging. She and Kevin had already talked it over. He was fine with it.

"What if I plan it for you?" Sharon asked, smiling. Shelley's head filled with visions of lace, pink roses, and fluffy girly bullshit. She shook her head.

"No, Mom, really. I'll just postpone it until August or something." Shelley said. Sharon frowned.

"Honey, are you sure this is about timing and not about Kevin?" Sharon asked. Shelley shook her head. No, she hadn't been having fantasies of leaving Kevin at all. Nope, not one.

"It's about the timing, Mom. God." Shelley replied, rolling her eyes.

"Okay sweetie. I believe you." Sharon said, smiling.

"So what else did you want to talk to me about? You could have called me about the wedding stuff." Shelley said. Sharon smiled sheepishly.

"Well, as you know, your brother is going to be eighteen soon." Sharon said.

"Yeah, it's shocking that he made it to his eighteenth birthday, isn't it?" Randy interjected. Sharon silenced him with a death glare.

"I was wondering if you could help me plan a little party for him." Sharon said. Shelley sighed.

"Mom, I have a full class load and I can't afford to come back and forth from Fort Collins all the time." Shelley replied. Sharon sighed.

"Fine, then. I'm sorry that I thought you would be willing to help me out with this one little thing. I mean, it's not like I've ever helped you before…" Sharon replied, looking down at the ground. Shelley sighed again.

"Fine, Mom. But a lot of this is going to have to be done by phone, okay?" Shelley replied, rolling her eyes. Sharon grinned.

"Oh honey, this is going to mean so much to Stanley!" she exclaimed. Shelley really didn't care how much it would mean to that stupid turd, but she didn't say that.

"Yeah. I'm sure he'll be thrilled." Shelley replied. Sharon pulled a big binder out from under the couch. Apparently she had been doing some brainstorming on her own.

"Now, I know you kids have your own style now, but I was thinking that we could do something like this…" she said, turning to a page in the binder and showing it to Shelley. Shelley sighed. She was in for a long ass afternoon.

--

Like Wendy, Mandi had also settled into her internship. She absolutely loved everything about it, from the people to the work. Her responsibilities mostly included making fliers, making phone calls and running tables, but she had been filling in for the receptionist for a week since she was out with Super AIDS or something. Unlike Wendy, her internship had started literally the same day she had been hired because Unplanned Parenthood had so much to do. She had been doing a lot for the gubernatorial elections since the Democratic candidate promised to restore family planning funding. There were two other interns to help her, both from South Park Community College. They were both pretty stupid, though, which was why they got all the crap work and Mandi got to do the fun stuff, like being receptionist. Mandi smiled as the bells over the door jingled, signifying a new customer. Her smile faded quickly once she looked up and saw that she was face-to-face with Eric Cartman himself. She sighed and willed herself to be nice to him.

"Hello. Welcome to Unplanned Parenthood. How can I help you today?" she asked, smiling. Cartman rolled his eyes.

"I think your whore of a sister gave me something." Cartman said, scowling. Mandi rolled her eyes.

"I doubt you caught it from her, Cartman. Symptoms usually appear at least a week later." she replied. Cartman rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, skank. I need to be tested." he replied. Mandi handed him a clipboard.

"Fill out both sides and the medical history form. Bring it back when you're done and I'll see if the doctor can fit you in." she said. Cartman yanked it out of her hand and stomped over to the waiting area. He finished it within fifteen minutes and brought it back.

"There bitch. And you better hope the doctor can see me because this fucking itches!" Cartman said, glaring at her. Mandi bit her lip to refrain from laughing and walked back into the clinic area to find the doctor. She informed her that Cartman needed to be seen and walked back into the receptionist area. Cartman was glaring at her from the waiting room. She smiled at him pleasantly, thoroughly enjoying his misery.

"The doctor will be out as soon as she can. While you wait, may I offer you a few brochures?" she said. She held out a few about condoms, oral sex, and each different STD. Cartman glared at her even harder.

"Fuck you, bitch." he said. She just smiled.

"You know, it's important to always use a condom." she replied. Cartman rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I did, bitch." he replied. Mandi grinned. She was enjoying the entire situation far too much.

--

Cartman fidgeted nervously as he sat on the table in the exam room. The doctor had left about twenty minutes before to test the samples she took from him. He hoped he didn't have anything, but he wasn't taking any chances. He waited another five minutes until a nurse knocked on the door and poked her head in.

"Eric Cartman?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yeah?" he replied, standing up. She motioned for him to follow her. She led him into a nice office area. The doctor who had taken his samples was sitting at a desk, looking down at a paper. When Cartman entered the room, she smiled.

"Ah, Mr. Cartman. Please sit down." she said, pointing at the chair across from her. He sat down nervously.

"Well…do I have anything?" he asked. The doctor handed him a brochure entitled "Genital Herpes and You". He took it and nearly threw up when he read the title.

"Mr. Cartman, are you familiar with genital herpes?" the doctor asked. Cartman nodded.

"Uh…well…sort of." he replied. The doctor nodded.

"I ask because you had some red bumps in your genital area." she said. Cartman froze.

"So I have herpes?" he squeaked. The doctor shook her head.

"No, Mr. Cartman, what you have is razor burn. It's fairly common if you shave…er…down there." the doctor said, taking the brochure back from him. Cartman let her words sink in and then shot her a dirty look.

"AY!" he yelled. The doctor smiled pleasantly.

"Also, everything else came back negative. Perhaps you should use protection if you are going to continue to be sexually active." the doctor said. Cartman was ready to slam the bitch's head against the wall.

"You're telling me that I don't have anything?" Cartman demanded.

"Yes." the doctor replied.

"Fucking bitch! Why would you scare me like that? Huh? HUH? Do you think it's funny to make people think they have something wrong with them? You can't do that to people! Was this Mandi's idea? I bet it was, that fucking slut…" Cartman raved, getting up and leaving the office. He slammed the door behind him. The doctor just laughed.

"You stupid little slut!" Cartman yelled as soon as he walked into the waiting room. Mandi looked up at him, shocked.

"Bad news?" she asked, trying to conceal her grin. Fucking bitch.

"You told the doctor to pretend like I had something to scare me! You are a fucking bitch!" he yelled at her. Mandi laughed.

"Oh please. Now please leave before you cause an even bigger scene." Mandi replied. Cartman screamed in absolute rage and left in a huff. Mandi couldn't help but laugh to herself once he was gone. Some things never changed.

--

"Why are we doing this again?" Kenny said, turning to look at Kyle. They were setting up for Stan's eighteenth birthday party at the South Park Community Center. Not by choice, of course.

"Shelley threatened to castrate us if we didn't." Kyle replied, blowing up a balloon with the helium tank Stan's mom had rented.

"Okay, I know why YOU'RE doing this. But why am I?" Kenny asked. Kyle rolled his eyes.

"Where the hell is Cartman? That fatass promised to help." he said, completely ignoring Kenny's comment.

"Who knows?" Kenny replied.

Kyle pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened up a new text. He typed "Where the hell are you?" and sent it to Cartman.

"I texted him. He probably forgot again." Kyle said, tying ribbons to the balloons that Kenny had just blown up.

"Doesn't he have hockey practice or something?" Kenny replied, moving away from the helium tank and to the food table. He began setting out plates and napkins.

"I doubt it." Kyle replied, rolling his eyes. Like Cartman actually went to hockey practice most of the time.

"The coach told him he has to start going to practice or he's going to get kicked off the team." Kenny said, as if reading Kyle's thoughts.

"Well whatever. It's Friday night…who the hell has practice on a Friday night?" Kyle replied. Kenny just shrugged. Kyle's phone beeped, signaling the arrival of a new text message. He opened it up.

"Calm down. I'm coming." it said. Kyle frowned.

"Hurry up, fatass." Kyle texted back.

"I'm not fat, you fucking Jew." Cartman texted.

"Don't mock my people, asshole!" Kyle texted back.

"Don't call me fat, butt licker!" Cartman texted.

"Just hurry your ass up. Jesus Christ." Kyle texted back.

"Relax, Jew. I'll be there in time to help with your little boyfriend's surprise party." Cartman texted back.

"FUCK YOU CARTMAN!" Kyle texted back. Kenny was watching this all, laughing to himself.

"Are you and Cartman text message fighting?" Kenny asked, amused.

"No." Kyle replied, dumping chips into a giant bowl.

"You sure?" Kenny asked, grinning.

"Stan's mom sure gave us a lot of food to put out." Kyle said, glancing at the bags full of chips, pretzels, and dip. Not to mention the pizzas that were being delivered later and the cake and ice cream.

"Good. Some of us aren't sure where our next meal is coming from." Kenny replied, grabbing a handful of chips and eating them. Kyle shook his head.

"Goddammit, Kenny." he said, grinning.

"Boys?" Sharon Marsh's voice called down the hall.

"We're here." Kyle called up. They heard her walking down the hall and then she entered the room.

"How's it going?" she asked, surveying the room. She smiled in approval.

"Half the people who were supposed to help haven't shown up yet, but I think we're good so far." Kyle said. Sharon nodded.

"Everything looks good. Now, you boys only have about an hour and a half left before people start arriving, so make sure you get all the big stuff done first. The pizzas are going to be delivered about half an hour into the party and Randy and I will bring Stanley right after you give me the okay that the pizza is here." Sharon said, smiling.

"I have your number programmed in, Mrs. Marsh." Kyle said, holding his cell phone up.

"How are you tricking Stan?" Kenny asked.

"We told him we're taking him to a fancy restaurant in Denver for his birthday dinner. Then I'm going to make some excuse about picking up a bowl for Kyle's mother and stopping off here. I'll make him come in with me and we'll go from there." she said.

"And you didn't tell Mr. Marsh, did you?" Kyle asked.

"God, no! I told him that Stanley's birthday party is tomorrow. If I told him about this, he would ruin it." she replied, grinning.

"Anybody here?" Cartman's voice echoed down the hall.

"It's about time!" Kyle yelled. Cartman walked in.

"Patience, Kyle. Patience. I had to arrange the DJ, remember." he replied.

"Did you get someone, Eric?" Mrs. Marsh asked.

"Yeah. For half the allotted amount, I might add. You can thank me later." he replied.

"Okay boys, it looks like you have everything covered. I need to get home before someone suspects something." she replied, leaving. As soon as she was out of earshot, Kyle turned and scowled at Cartman.

"What did you do to get a DJ so cheap, Cartman?" he asked.

"None of your concern, Jew. Let's just say I know how to negotiate." he replied, walking over to the streamers. Kenny walked over with him and they began hanging them.

"Hey, anyone here?" another voice called down the hall. It was a guy's voice, but Kyle knew it wasn't Stan's.

"Back here!" Kyle called. Seth Testaburger walked in, hand-in-hand with Mandi.

"Hey." she said, smiling. Kyle rolled his eyes.

"You were supposed to be here an hour ago." Kyle said.

"Sorry. Jesus." Mandi replied, shrugging.

"Is anyone else coming?" Kyle asked.

"Bebe texted me and said she was heading over. I think Wendy is with her." Mandi replied.

"That's it?" Kyle asked, incredulous.

"Kyle, it's Friday night. Most people don't want to spend their evening decorating for a party. They would rather actually come to the party." Mandi replied. Seth nodded.

"Yeah, I only came because she made me." Seth said, gesturing towards Mandi.

"And because Bebe is bringing Scott Tenorman." Mandi replied, rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, what are we doing?" Seth asked, looking around. Kyle sighed and assigned them both a task.

--

"Wendy, what the hell do you mean you feel sick?" Bebe asked, glancing nervously at the newly vacuumed floors of her car.

"I mean I feel like I'm going to puke, Bebe." Wendy snapped.

"Should I…pull over?" Bebe asked, already pulling over into the parking lot of La Taco.

"La Taco? Really?" Wendy asked.

"It wouldn't be the first time someone puked in their parking lot." Bebe replied.

Wendy opened up the car door and got out. She sat down on the curb, willing her stomach to stop churning. She tried to think back to everything she had eaten that day, but she couldn't come up with anything that could have made her sick. How often did someone undercook tomato soup and oyster crackers? The thought of the soup was enough to send the food that was spinning in her stomach right up and she coughed and gagged every bit of it into the La Taco parking lot. Her stomach immediately calmed down after she emptied its contents onto the asphalt.

"Wendy?" Bebe asked. She walked towards her slowly.

"Bebe, it's fine. You can come over here." she said.

"I don't want to catch it." Bebe replied. She walked over to Wendy anyway and handed her a bottle of water. Wendy took it. She opened the bottle, took a small sip, swished the water around in her mouth, and spit it back out.

"I don't think I have anything. I think there was something wrong with the tomato soup I had at lunch." she replied, shrugging.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Bebe asked, frowning.

"No. I think I'll be okay." Wendy replied.

"Just…don't puke in my car, okay?" Bebe said. Wendy rolled her eyes.

"I won't. I'll puke in my lap first, okay?" she replied.

--

Two hours later, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman, Seth, Mandi, Wendy, and Bebe had somehow decorated every inch of the rented room.

"Now what?" Kenny asked, sitting down on the floor.

"Now I need to change out of my Unplanned Parenthood uniform and into something else." Mandi said, gesturing towards her hot pink scrubs and standing up. Seth joined her.

"And I should go help her. You know, just in case she puts the dress on wrong or something." he replied.

"You guys are sick." Wendy replied, shaking her head.

"Yo, pizza!" a voice called from the hall. Mandi checked her watch.

"Better early than never?" she asked. Wendy groaned.

"Dudes, I have like eighty pizzas here!" the pizza guy called. Kenny, Kyle, Mandi, Seth, and Cartman all went into the hall to meet the pizza guy, who happened to be Skyler.

"I'll be damned." Cartman said, recognizing him immediately.

"Hey, what's up?" Skyler asked, apparently also recognizing Cartman.

"So you're…delivering pizza now." Cartman said.

"Hey, you used to be fat, didn't you?" Skyler asked. Cartman scowled. Mandi laughed and grabbed a few pizzas off of the floor where Skyler had stacked them. He was right--there WERE a lot. At least thirty of them.

"There's a whole table in here where we are putting the pizzas if you want to follow me." Mandi said, glancing at Skyler. He grinned.

"Why yes. Yes I would." he replied, watching her ass as she walked away. Kenny and Kyle exchanged glances.

"Why is it that she always has older guys wanting to bone her?" Kyle asked. Kenny shrugged.

"She does have a nice ass…" Kenny said. Seth cleared his throat.

"I'm standing right here." he said. Kenny shrugged.

"Sorry man, but you know it's true." he said, picking up a few pizzas and following Mandi to the table.

"So, you wanna get a pizza with me sometime? I can get you a large sausage for free." Skyler said, walking up to Mandi. Mandi turned bright red.

"Um…actually…" she said, not sure what to say. Luckily, Seth walked up and put his arm around her.

"She would rather eat my pepperoni." he said. This made Mandi blush even more. Skyler looked from Mandi to Seth and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, babe." Skyler replied, shrugging. He brought the rest of the pizzas in and then walked over to Kyle to get his payment.

"Why is it that older guys always hit on you?" Seth asked. Mandi shrugged.

"Can we not talk about this?" she replied. Seth grinned.

"But it's so funny." he said. She shook her head.

"That's not funny. That's…sick." she said.

"Hey, I'm going to go ahead and call Stan's mom and let her know that the pizza is here, okay?" Kyle said.

"No one is here, though!" Wendy said, looking around the empty room in a panic.

As soon as Wendy said that, people started arriving. Seth had gotten the idea to put a sign directing them to the room near the entrance so that no one else had to yell when they came in. Stan's Uncle Jimbo and Ned were among the first guests to arrive. They placed a package that looked suspiciously like a shot gun on the present table and immediately cracked open the beers they had brought themselves. Rebecca showed up with Janae and Derrick since Butters was out of town with his parents. Katie McCormick showed up with Jessica Testaburger. They both shot Kenny dirty looks when they walked in. Craig showed up with Lexus and Mercedes. Everyone else from their grade eventually trickled in and Mandi and Seth came back after being gone for thirty minutes with Mandi wearing a black and red flowered party dress and Seth looking sort of tired.

--

"Stanley! Randy! Come on, our reservation is in thirty minutes!" Sharon called, glancing at the clock. Kyle had sent her the all ready text message ten minutes before and she did not want Stan to be late for his own party. Randy came down the stairs wearing an old blue suit.

"Sharon, keep your pants on." he said, rolling his eyes. "Well, for now, anyway." he said after a second, winking at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Okay, Mom, Jesus." Stan said, descending the stairs. He was wearing a red shirt with a black tie and black dress pants. Sharon immediately teared up.

"Oh, my baby is growing up so fast!" she said, rushing over to hug him. Stan rolled his eyes. He had been dealing with Sharon's hysterics since his actual birthday two days before.

"Aw Mom, jeez…" he said, hugging her back.

"Sharon, chill out. Soon he'll be out of the house and we'll hardly ever have to see him!" Randy said, grinning. This only made Sharon cry more.

"Um…reservations? We're going to be late, remember?" Stan said, shooting his dad a dirty look.

--

"Okay guys, I just got a text from Stan's mom. They just pulled into the parking lot. Now, let's all hide. Mandi, do you still have the lights?" Kyle called across the crowded room.

"Yup!" Mandi called.

"Felipe, do you have all of your equipment set up?" Kyle called to the DJ. Felipe shot him a thumbs up.

"Okay, everyone take your places then." Kyle commanded. Everyone crouched down and Mandi hit the lights. The entire room went black and they listened for footsteps coming down the hall.

--

"I can't believe you forgot to make the reservations, Sharon." Randy said, rolling his eyes at his wife. Sharon smiled.

"Honestly, it must have slipped my mind." she replied.

"It's okay, Mom." Stan said from his position in the backseat.

"Actually, Randy, we need to stop by the community center." Sharon said, pointing to the building coming up on her right. Randy rolled his eyes.

"Goddammit, Sharon, it's too late for yoga." Randy said, pulling into the parking lot anyway.

"Sheila told me that she left a bowl here and she wanted me to grab it for her since she won't have any time to grab it herself." Sharon said. Randy pulled into a parking spot and turned off the engine.

"Hurry the hell up." he said. Sharon shook her head.

"Nope, you're both coming in with me." she said. Randy shook his head.

"No. I'm fine right here." he said, already thinking about the six pack he had waiting at home.

"I'll come in with you." Stan volunteered. Sharon smiled at him and then frowned at Randy.

"You'll both come in with me." she said. Randy started to protest, but she held up her hand to silence him. "This is not up for discussion." she said. Randy sighed loudly and unbuckled his seatbelt. Sharon and Stan unbuckled theirs as well and the two men followed Sharon into the community center. Randy complained the entire way, something about Sharon having his balls in a blender and dammit Stan, hold onto your manhood as long as you can, don't let some woman claw into you, etc etc etc. Stan chuckled quietly to himself as his father babbled on.

--

Everyone heard Stan approaching. Well, actually, they heard Randy Marsh complaining. Finally, Kyle heard Sharon yell something about not being able to find the room, which was her code to let Kyle know that they were about to enter the room. Kyle sent the "LIGHTS" text message to Mandi, and she flipped them on right as the Marshes walked into the room.

"SURPRISE!" everyone yelled in unison. Everyone immediately surrounded Stan. Randy jumped backwards in surprise and then grinned.

"Hey, a surprise party for me. What's the occasion?" he asked Sharon. She rolled her eyes.

"It's Stanley's eighteenth birthday." she replied, looking at him as if he were mentally handicapped.

"So you threw me a party?" Randy asked, confused. Stan sensed that his mother was going to say something very colorful, so he stepped in.

"Actually, I think it's my party…" he said. Randy rolled his eyes.

"Teenagers, always assuming everything is about them…" he muttered, shaking his head. As he did that, he caught sight of what Jimbo and Ned were drinking and rushed off to join their private party. Sharon smiled at Stan and motioned towards the pizza and he nodded.

"You guys really shouldn't have done this." Stan said, grinning at Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. Kyle shrugged.

"It was your mom's idea, dude. We just helped." Kenny said.

"Well…thanks." Stan said. The three of them nodded.

"Hey Stan." Mandi said, walking up to the group. Seth trailed behind her and nodded once at Stan.

"Hey." he said, smiling at her.

"So Seth, Wendy, Bebe, Janae, and I went in together and got you something." she said, handing him a brightly wrapped package. He grinned.

"Wow, thanks. Uh…your whole group of friends, huh?" he replied. Mandi shrugged.

"Well all of us except for…" she trailed off, thinking Rebecca but not saying her name. Why ruin the party? Her indecision was interrupted by Rebecca actually coming over to Stan, grinning and holding a package of her own.

"I thought I would get you something a little less…fancy." she said, handing him the package. Stan was too busy staring at her to actually comprehend what she said, but he nodded anyway.

"Thank you. You look great." he said, smiling. She did, too. Her dress was the same one she had been wearing at Token's back to school party, but it fit her well.

"Oh…thanks." she said, blushing a little.

"Where's Butters?" Stan asked.

"Out of town with his parents." she replied. Stan nodded.

"That's too bad. You want to get something to drink?" he asked, not sounding at all sorry about Butters not being there. Rebecca nodded and the two walked off to the refreshments table.

"Not this again." Kyle said, watching them walk off together. Mandi shrugged.

"I had a feeling that that would happen…" she said.

"Well, he broke up with Red, so I guess he's free to get back together with her if he wants…" Kenny said, shrugging.

Across the room, Wendy was sitting in a chair, sipping a cup of warm 8 Down. Bebe was sitting next to her, looking worried.

"Maybe you should see a doctor or something…" Bebe suggested. Wendy shook her head.

"It's probably just stress or something." she replied.

"Are you on your period? Sometimes I puke when I'm on mine…" Bebe said. Wendy frowned.

"No…no period this…right now." she replied, suddenly very interested in her drink. If Bebe noticed, she didn't say anything. The DJ suddenly began blasting some salsa song and Cartman ran across the room yelling at him to play real music, goddammit. The salsa was quickly replaced with Justin Timberlake.

"I'm glad you came." Stan said as he handed Rebecca her drink. She smiled.

"I was a little unsure at first, but I'm glad I came too." she replied, taking a sip of the pop Stan handed her.

"Why were you unsure?" he asked. He didn't really look hurt. Just curious.

"Well, Butters…and…" she said, shrugging. He nodded as if he understood even though she knew what she said made no goddamn sense at all.

"He's not here tonight, though." Stan said, taking her drink and setting it on the table. He took her hand and pulled her out to the middle of the floor where everyone else had started dancing.

"You know I can't dance." she shouted over the music. Stan pretended like he couldn't hear her and she rolled her eyes.

"Come on, just have fun!" Stan said. She began mimicking his moves.

Mandi stood about fifteen feet away, watching the entire thing. Janae came up next to her and shook her head.

"That girl is begging to get hurt again." Janae said. Mandi shrugged.

"Maybe it will be different this time. He seems like he cares…" Mandi said. Janae rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, he acts like that now. Remember how miserable she was, though?" Janae asked. Mandi frowned and tried to remember a time when Rebecca had seemed unhappy, but she couldn't recall any point before her break-up with Stan.

"She wasn't miserable. They were pretty happy…" Mandi replied.

"She was miserable and she didn't know it." Janae said. Mandi raised her eyebrows.

"I don't think so. They dated for like two years and some odd months. I think she would have dumped him before then if she had been miserable." Mandi said.

"You were miserable with Kyren and you guys stuck together for almost five years." Janae said.

"That was different…" Mandi replied. And it was. Stan and Rebecca had been a happy couple the entire time they had dated. Mandi and Kyren had gone in and out of happiness throughout their entire relationship.

"Hey." John Vanson said, walking up to Mandi and Janae. Janae merely nodded a greeting at him before taking off after Derrick. Mandi smiled at him.

"Hey John." she said.

"Where's Seth?" he asked, looking around. Mandi gestured towards the other side of the room where Seth was engaged in what looked like a heated debate with Cartman. John nodded.

"I should have guessed." he replied. Mandi shrugged.

"Cartman made him mad." she replied.

"I can see that. So…uh…is Desirae here?" John asked. Mandi smiled. Apparently John and Desirae had been "talking". John was about twenty steps up from the normal sleaze balls Desirae normally went for.

"She might be around here somewhere…" Mandi replied.

She was, in fact. She was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room, watching everyone around her dance. She didn't see Jessica approaching her until it was too late to make a run for it.

"Um…hi." Jessica said, smiling at her uncertainly. Desirae scowled.

"What?" she asked.

"Can we talk?" Jessica asked.

"I think we're already talking." Desirae replied, shrugging.

"Look…I'm sorry about the whole Kenny thing. I feel like I was a total bitch to you and that wasn't right. I don't think what happened was your fault." Jessica said, smiling warmly. Desirae rolled her eyes.

"I know it wasn't my fault. Kenny is a horny bastard, you were stupid enough to fall for his bullshit. I don't factor in there at all." Desirae replied. Jessica frowned.

"I'm trying to be your friend here…" Jessica said.

"I already told you that I don't want to be friends." Desirae replied.

"Let's be honest here, Desirae. You NEED friends." Jessica said, putting her hands on her hips.

"I don't really need anything, actually." Desirae replied, biting her tongue to keep from laughing.

"Yes you do. You eat lunch alone. You're sitting off by yourself at a party." Jessica pointed out.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I like it that way?" Desirae asked. Jessica paused. It actually hadn't.

"No one likes being alone. Do you know what people say about you? What kind of reputation you have?" Jessica asked, trying to scare Desirae.

"No one says anything about me and I don't have a reputation because I fly under the radar." Desirae replied, rolling her eyes. This was starting to get on her nerves.

"Okay, fine then. Maybe I just want to be your friend." Jessica said, smiling. On anyone else, it probably would have worked. Jessica was one of the most popular girls in her grade and people lined up to spend time with her and be called her friend. Unfortunately for her, Desirae was not one of those people. So when she got up and walked away, it shocked Jessica. Someone not wanting to speak to her was an entirely foreign concept in her world.

"What are you doing, dude?" Kenny asked, walking up to Kyle. Kyle nearly dropped his cup.

"Jesus Christ, Kenny. Don't sneak up on people like that!" he said. Kenny just laughed.

"Why do you look like you're doing something you shouldn't be?" Kenny asked, smirking. Kyle's face turned bright red.

"I don't know what you're talking about." he replied.

"Uh huh. You look like I looked when my dad caught me with his Playboys for the first time." Kenny replied, grinning. Kyle rolled his eyes.

"How old were you, three?" Kyle asked, only half-serious.

"Two, actually. Not the point, though." Kenny replied.

"Two? Jesus Christ, Kenny." Kyle replied.

"So who are you checking out?" Kenny asked, ignoring Kyle's comment. Kyle froze.

"I'm not checking anyone out." Kyle said. Kenny shot him a "yeah, right" look and looked across the room where Kyle had been staring when he approached him. Clyde was dancing with some junior girl, Cartman and Seth Testaburger were in some heated argument, Bebe and Scott Tenorman were dancing, Kenny's own little sister was talking to some girl he didn't recognize, and Stan and Rebecca were dancing. Kenny frowned. Bebe would be the obvious choice, but he hadn't really seen Kyle speak to her since their junior year. Rebecca was out because Kenny knew that Kyle would never even consider doing that to Stan.

"You better not be checking my sister out." Kenny said, grinning good-naturedly. Kyle turned beet red.

"Dude, why would I check your sister out? Sick!" Kyle replied. Kenny shrugged and walked away, not noticing that Kyle's eyes went right back to Katie once he knew he wasn't being watched.

"Where's your date?" Kyren asked, walking up to Mandi.

"Arguing with Cartman." she replied, laughing a little. Kyren chuckled.

"Why am I not surprised?" he asked. Mandi shrugged.

"No one is surprised." she replied.

"So what are they arguing over?" Kyren asked.

"Hockey, I think. It probably grew from there." she said.

"So…having fun?" Kyren asked, suddenly feeling very awkward. Mandi nodded.

"Yeah…it's a great party." she replied, taking a sip of the punch she had concocted. The punch consisted of strawberry ice cream and lemon-lime pop and she was quite proud of it.

"You want to dance?" he asked. Mandi sighed. She had a feeling that that would eventually come up.

"I have a date." she replied, hoping to let him down gently.

"Your date is busy." Kyren replied, smiling.

"I'm a terrible dancer." she said, regretting those words the instant they came out of her mouth. Kyren would just suggest dancing to a slow song.

"So we can slow dance." Kyren replied. Yup.

"Kyren, that's a really bad idea and you know it." she replied, sighing. Kyren frowned.

"Mandi, I'm not still out to get you back. As much as it pains me, I do respect your relationship with Seth. I don't want to cause trouble." he replied. Quite sincerely, in fact. Mandi sighed. Kyren was generally not one to lie, but she was reluctant to trust him after he had basically confessed his undying love for her a few weeks before.

"It's going to piss Seth off and you know it." she replied. Kyren shook his head and pointed somewhere across the room. Mandi looked to where he was pointing and saw Scott Tenorman talking to Bebe.

"I think that will piss Seth off more than you dancing with me." Kyren replied, smiling. Mandi sighed.

"One dance, Kyren. That's it." she said, walking out to the makeshift dance floor with him. He put his arms around her and she shifted uncomfortably.

"Don't you miss this at all?" Kyren asked her. She sighed and tried to picture a time when she and Kyren had been very happy and very inseperable. Unfortunately for her, all she could think of was the image of Grace and Kyren blowing their straw papers at each other the year before.

"Why are you here dancing with me?" she asked. Kyren gave her a strange look.

"Because I love you." he replied. She shook her head.

"No. You obviously have feelings for that Grace girl." Mandi replied.

"What?" Kyren asked, clearly confused. Mandi rolled her eyes and stepped away from him.

"Go find her and ask her to dance. You'll be a lot happier if you do." she replied, walking away from him. Kyren felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach, but he let her go.

Rebecca somehow found herself having a conversation with Stan's mom. This was awkward for her because she had been sure that Mrs. Marsh hated her after their break-up. However, she was discovering that just the opposite was true.

"I was so mad at Stanley when he told me that the two of you were finished." Sharon said, shaking her head. Rebecca frowned.

"I always thought that you hated me after that…" Rebecca replied.

"Oh God no, dear! I never liked that new girl that he dated, though." Sharon said, smiling. Rebecca laughed.

"Neither did I." she said.

"So Stanley tells me that you have a new boyfriend." Sharon said. Rebecca shrugged.

"Yeah, Butters and I have been dating for a little while, I guess. He's nice enough." she said.

"But there's no spark." Sharon said, finishing her thought for her. Rebecca blushed.

"That's a terrible thing to say or think, but it's the truth…" she said. Sharon nodded.

"Well, maybe you and Stan can get back together." Sharon said. Rebecca immediately turned bright red.

"Oh, Mrs. Marsh, I don't know about that…" she said, her voice shaky. Sharon smiled.

"You should come by for dinner sometime." Sharon said.

"That would be great." Rebecca replied, remembering all of the meals she had eaten with the Marsh family before.

"You still love chicken and noodles, right?" Sharon said.

"With mashed potatoes." Rebecca said, grinning.

"Why is your mom talking to Rebecca?" Kenny asked, walking up to Stan.

"What?" Stan asked, scanning the room and spotting Rebecca and his mom deep in conversation.

"They've been talking for like fifteen minutes now." Kenny said, taking a sip of the punch that Mandi had made.

"What the hell do they have to talk about?" Stan asked. Kenny saw him starting to sweat and laughed.

"Hell if I know. Are you guys going to get back together?" Kenny asked. Stan turned as red as the poofball on the hat he used to wear.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" he asked. Kenny grinned.

"Probably because your break-up with Red was louder and more interesting than the music at Homecoming. Everyone heard her yelling at you about staring at Rebecca." Kenny replied. Stan turned even redder, if that was even possible.

"Did Rebecca hear?" he asked.

"Probably." Kenny replied.

"…Fuck." Stan said, pinching his nose.

"You are not allowed to leave me again. Do you understand me?" Mandi said, grabbing Seth's arm. He grinned and put his cup on the table next to him. Cartman had long since tired of their argument and had found someone else to bother.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Kyren. Kyren is on the prowl." she said, sighing. Seth laughed.

"Aww, and you don't want to dance with him? Or talk to him? Or be forced onto a plane to Vegas for a quickie wedding with him?" he asked. His tone was teasing, but Mandi still groaned.

"Don't even joke like that. That's probably exactly what he's thinking." she said, wrapping her arms around Seth's waist. He smiled.

"Want me to go talk to him?" Seth asked. Mandi shook her head.

"No. But we could always get out of here." Mandi replied, smiling.

"Your mom is gone tonight, right?" Seth asked.

"Yeah. Josh has another Cub Scout thing and they went camping in Conifer." Mandi said. Seth grinned.

"Then why are we wasting our time at this party when we could be at your place?" he asked.

"Gross." Janae said, walking up to the two of them. They both turned to look at her and Mandi grinned.

"It's not gross." she said. Janae shook her head.

"Oh believe me, it's goddamn disgusting." Janae said.

"Whatever. What's up?" Mandi asked. Janae gestured towards Stan's mom. She was putting candles on a large cake.

"We're about to sing and cut the cake. Then Stan is opening presents. I suggest you lovebirds stay for that." Janae said. Seth nodded.

"We would never miss cake." Seth said, grinning. Janae rolled her eyes at him and walked off, presumably to tell everyone else.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Stan, happy birthday to you!" everyone sang as Stan stood in front of his cake. His mom had hit the lights and passed out birthday hats for everyone to wear. Stan took a big breath as the song ended and blew out all eighteen of his birthday candles. Everyone clapped.

"What did you wish for, Stan?" someone called out. Stan just grinned.

"Okay, Stan gets the first piece!" Stan's mom called, pulling out her cake knife and dividing the cake into pieces.

"Happy Birthday, Stan." Rebecca said, coming up next to him. He smiled and put his arm around her waist. She started to move away, but decided against it.

"What about Butters?" she whispered. Stan just shrugged.

"Break up with him already." Stan muttered. Rebecca frowned.

"It's not as easy as you seem to think it is." she replied.

"Here's your cake, sweetheart." Sharon said, turning around and handing Stan his plate. He took it and smiled at her. She looked from Stan to Rebecca in confusion, but then smiled and went back to handing out cake.

"Happy Birthday, dude." Kyle said, walking up to Stan.

"Thanks, Kyle." Stan said, grinning. He had since removed his arm from Rebecca's waist, but she was still standing very close to him. Kyle looked at her in confusion.

"Oh, hey." he said. She smiled.

"Hi Kyle." she said.

"Stan, can I talk to you?" Kyle asked.

"I'll just go grab some cake." Rebecca said, walking away. Stan looked at Kyle expectantly.

"What's up?" he asked. Kyle rolled his eyes.

"Rebecca. She has a boyfriend." Kyle said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Stan simply shrugged.

"We're getting back together." he said. Kyle's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"Since when?" Kyle asked.

"Since tonight. She's going to dump Butters when he comes back and then we can be together once and for all." Stan said.

"This cake is really good." Rebecca said, walking back up to Stan and Kyle. Stan grinned.

"Chocolate with the good icing. It's your favorite. I remember." Stan said. Rebecca blushed.

"It's your favorite too, Stan." she said, elbowing him playfully. Kyle resisted the urge to gag.

"Well…have fun, dude. I'm going to go find Kenny." Kyle said. It didn't take long to find him. He just followed the trail of giggling girls and pushed his way through. Kenny grinned at him when he saw him coming.

"Kyle! What's up?" he asked. Kyle simply pointed in Rebecca and Stan's general direction. Kenny raised his eyebrows.

"They got back together?" he asked. Kyle shook his head.

"No, but Stan said they will as soon as she dumps Butters." Kyle said.

"Dude. Not cool." Kenny said, shaking his head.

"Okay Stanley, time to open your presents!" Sharon called. Stan smiled at Rebecca and walked up to the table where his gifts were piled.

"Here sweetie, open this one first." Sharon said, handing Stan a small bag. He opened it and pulled out a pair of headphones.

"Oh…wow. Thanks." he said, smiling. Sharon simply grinned and handed him another package. This pattern continued on for about half an hour. By the time Sharon handed him the last package, a bag identical to the first one she had handed him, he had already accumulated five new sweaters, twenty different gift cards, six new DVDs, a fish tank, three new t-shirts, and a plethora of other random gifts. He took the last bag from his mother and opened it. Instead of pulling out headphones like he had earlier, he pulled out a black 80GB iPod.

"Holy shit! They literally just released this a month ago!" Stan said. Sharon smiled.

"I thought you would like it, honey. The one you have now is pretty old." she said.

"Thanks, Mom!" Stan said, hugging her. He hugged his father as well.

"Okay, that's it for the presents. There's plenty of leftover pizza and cake if anyone wants it." Sharon said. The crowd that had gathered dispersed themselves.

"Pretty fancy." Rebecca said, walking up next to Stan. She took the iPod out of his hands and examined it.

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet." he said, smiling.

Wendy wasn't sure what death felt like, but she was pretty sure that she was close to it. Her head was pounding and her stomach was churning. She had found a vacant corner after Stan had opened his presents in an effort to calm her stomach down. This was how Bebe found her ten minutes later.

"Wendy?" she asked, concern evident in her voice.

"I'm fine." Wendy said. She then moaned as another wave of nausea washed over her.

"What the hell is her problem?" Cartman asked, walking over to the two girls. Wendy moaned again, but Bebe wasn't sure if it was from whatever was bothering her or Cartman's presence.

"She has some kind of stomach virus." Bebe replied.

"She looks like shit." Cartman said, staring at her.

"Fuck you." Wendy muttered weakly.

"Should we call her mom or something?" Bebe asked. She didn't add that she was afraid that she might catch what Wendy had if she put her back in her car.

"I'll take her home." Cartman said. Wendy shook her head and immediately regretted the motion.

"No. Get Seth." Wendy said. Bebe turned to look for Seth and saw that he and Mandi were engaged in a serious session of tonsil hockey. Seth would probably be leaving soon, but she doubted he would be heading home that night.

"He's…busy." Bebe said. This caused Wendy to choke back a gag.

"Goddammit, Bebe. Don't tell me what my brother and Mandi are doing!" she moaned.

"I'll take her home. I almost never get sick." Cartman said. Wendy sighed, too nauseous to fight.

"You'll take her home, right? You won't dump her in Starks Pond or anything?" Bebe asked nervously. Cartman rolled his eyes.

"Bitch, I'm a nice guy." he replied.

"Wendy, you have your phone in case he tries to kill you, right?" Bebe asked. Wendy nodded weakly.

"Hey, you rode with Janae, right?" Stan asked Rebecca.

"Yeah." she said, nodding.

"How about I give you a ride home?" Stan asked.

"I don't know…" Rebecca said, biting her lower lip. A sure sign that she was nervous and unsure.

"Come on. It will be like old times." Stan said, smiling.

"I hope some things have changed. Like your driving skills." Rebecca replied, grinning.

--

Cartman wasn't going to put Wendy in his car when she posed a puking hazard. First, he made her drink a cup of ginger ale to calm her stomach down a little. Then he fed her a few over the counter anti-nausea pills, just to make sure. Thirty minutes later, Cartman was pulling out of the community center parking lot, heading towards Wendy's house. He had helped her into his passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt for her. Wendy was going in and out of sleep.

"You still alive over there?" he asked, making a left turn out of the parking lot. Wendy moaned something and Cartman took that as a sign of life.

"You know, you're actually pretty bearable when you aren't talking. I like you better when you're sick." he said, grinning. This time, her reply was more like a grumble.

"So what the hell is wrong with you, anyway?" he asked, stopping at a red light.

"I guess I have a stomach virus." she replied.

"Ah, you can talk." he replied. She rolled her eyes.

"Sorry to disappoint." she replied.

"I guess all that taking care of you I did helped you." he said.

"I think it was the anti-nausea medicine that did it." she replied.

"Who gave you the anti-nausea medicine?" he asked. The light turned green and the car started moving again.

"Actually, I think Scott Tenorman had them in his car. You took them from him, remember?" Wendy replied.

"Shit, that probably wasn't anti-nausea medicine." Cartman joked. He signaled and turned right.

"He is a predator." Wendy replied.

"He was the oldest guy at that party besides Stan's family." Cartman replied.

"Bebe made him come." Wendy said.

"I'm sure she did." Cartman said, grinning.

"Goddammit, Cartman. That's not what I meant." Wendy replied.

"Calm down, hoe. It was a joke." Cartman said. He turned down Wendy's street and pulled into her driveway.

"Thanks for the ride." Wendy said, unbuckling her seatbelt.

"Here, let me walk you to your door." Cartman said. He got out of the car and went around to her side before she could even protest.

"I can walk by myself, Cartman." she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Bitch, I'm trying to be fucking nice to you. Get off of your feminist high horse and fucking let me help you." Cartman replied. Wendy shook her head, but didn't protest as he led her to her front door.

"Thanks." she said, pulling her key out and unlocking the door.

"Don't mention it." he said.

She turned to tell him goodnight, but somehow found herself staring into his eyes instead. They maintained that awkward eye contact for about twenty seconds before Cartman cleared his throat and looked away.

"Well…better go. I hope you feel better soon, Wendy." he said. He was off of her porch, in his car, and out of her driveway before she could say anything else. It was only as she pulled the covers over her head later that night that she realized he had called her Wendy.

--

Stan had started to take Rebecca home, but had changed his mind halfway there and pulled into the little parking lot area next to Starks Pond. Rebecca hadn't said a word about it until he had actually pulled into the parking lot, turned the ignition off, taken off his seatbelt, and turned to look at her.

"Stan…" she said.

"I wanted some privacy." he said. She nodded. She wanted it too.

"What about Butters?" she asked.

"What about him?" Stan replied. He reached over and took her hand.

"It's not right. He's still my boyfriend." she said.

"So call him right now and dump him." Stan said. Rebecca jerked her hand out of his and he immediately regretted saying that.

"It's not that easy, Stan. I mean, sure, I don't love him, but do you really think I'm going to leave him and then run back to you?" she asked. Stan felt as though she had slapped him.

"You still love me, though." he said.

"You broke up with me for another girl! I mean, my God, Stan. We dated for like two and a half years and suddenly you were breaking up with me over the phone!" she said. She could feel the tears building up behind her eyes, but she didn't care.

"I was stupid. I wasn't thinking." Stan replied, his voice quiet.

"And then you actually brought her to the place I work every single night. Like you wanted to throw your new relationship in my face!" she said. She felt one of the tears escape, but she ignored it.

"I'm stupid. I'm sorry. I love you." he said. He tried to take her hand again, but she moved it.

"If you really love me, you will give me some space. I need to sort out my feelings." she said. He sighed.

"How much space do you need? Can we still talk?" he asked.

"I don't know, Stan. Just give me this weekend to myself. We'll talk about it later." she said. He didn't like it, but he wasn't going to argue. He sighed and put the car back into drive. The entire ride to her house was silent in the most awkward way possible. She finally spoke again when he pulled into her driveway.

"Thank you for the ride. I'll see you at school on Monday." she said. She started to get out of the car, but turned around to face Stan again. To his complete and utter shock, she kissed him lightly on the lips. After she was finished, she smiled at him and walked up to her door. He was in such a daze that he didn't even remember driving home, though he found himself in his driveway ten minutes later. He shook his head as he went inside, wondering if the kiss meant that things were going to be alright.

--

Author's Notes: Sorry it was so lame! For those of you who care, I'm heading back to school on Saturday…yay eight hour drives. Not. Anyway, I'll probably be too busy to update for a little while, but I'll eventually get back on track. I'm taking eighteen hours this semester, but two of those classes are online and I won't have any classes on Tuesday or Thursday. It will all work out. Now go review, dammit.


	7. Siete

Author's Notes: I know, I know. I suck. I'm slow. Believe me, I KNOW. This past semester was CRAZY busy. I mean crazy. It seemed like it would never end. But it did and I did well and now I have Christmas break until January 11th. Anyway, I am skipping ahead a bit in this story because if I don't, the goddamn thing will go on FOREVER. So this chapter is starting the Monday of Thanksgiving week. In the Denver Airport. Wendy's parents are picking Seth up for his Thanksgiving break. Also, if I make references to "the election", I am referencing the 2006 election where the Democrats took over the House and Senate.

"What's his flight number again?" Martin Testaburger asked his wife.

"I thought you were looking up his flight number." Kathy Testaburger replied, rolling her eyes at her husband.

"No, Kathy, I told you to look it up!" he replied, gripping the steering wheel angrily. Wendy and Jessica exchanged annoyed glances. They had both had other plans that night, but their father had insisted that they cancel them because he wanted the entire family to meet Seth at the airport so that they could go out for a nice family dinner afterward, goddammit. So Jessica had skipped out on cheerleading practice and Wendy had bailed on a Student Council meeting. Her father had even left work early and her mother had stayed out of the wine all day, which was a first for her.

"Seth said that it was arriving at six our time. How many flights from Seattle can REALLY be arriving at the same time?" Wendy asked, hoping to stop the fight before it started.

"I want to know so that I know where to meet him." Martin replied, gritting his teeth.

"Don't snap at Wendy. She's trying to be helpful!" Kathy replied.

"Wendy wouldn't have to be helpful if you would have just looked it up like I asked you to!" Martin replied.

"Doesn't he usually fly the same airline anyway?" Jessica asked, trying to be helpful.

"Yeah. You guys have those miles set up for him to earn or something, right?" Wendy asked.

"Anything can change." Martin replied, taking the exit that led to the airport.

Twenty minutes later, they were sitting on the bench by the baggage claim area, waiting for Seth. Martin was waiting for Seth's bag and Seth was still nowhere to be seen, although the bags from his flight were on the baggage carousel and the display screen said that his flight had gotten in before. Martin got Seth's bag and checked the tag, making sure it was indeed Seth's. Seth soon strolled up to the baggage claim area, a bouquet of red roses in hand. Wendy laughed, realizing he had actually been expecting Mandi to pick him up. Seth never missed a beat, though. He walked up to his mother, gave her a hug, and handed her the roses.

"For you." he said, grinning. She smiled.

"You thought Mandi was picking you up, huh?" she replied. Seth shrugged.

"No no. Of course not." he said.

"Right. Should we go, then?" Martin replied, leading everyone out to the car. Seth piled into the backseat with Wendy and Jessica, nearly crushing both of them.

"Hey Seth? There are two other people back here. Contain your bulk, please." Wendy said, rolling her eyes.

"My bulk? I think you're the one with the ever-expanding ass and waistline, sister." he replied, eyeing Wendy's tiny roll of fat under her shirt. She zipped her jacket self-consciously.

"Be nice to your sister. There is no possible way that she is gaining any weight. She's had the same stomach flu all month!" Kathy replied.

"Sounds more like bulimia to me." Jessica muttered.

"Shut up, Jessica." Wendy and Seth said in unison.

Twenty minutes later, they had finally settled on some hole in the wall Italian place in Fairplay for dinner. They were seated immediately and they all stared at their menus. Wendy was pleased to see that they actually offered vegetarian lasagna as well as several meatless pasta dishes. The waiter was a guy about Wendy's age. He smiled warmly at everyone, but cast several side glances at Jessica, who didn't seem to notice.

"Now isn't this nice? A family dinner. How often do we get to do this?" Kathy asked.

"I'm missing practice for this." Jessica said, glaring at her mother.

"I'm missing Student Council." Wendy said.

"I'm missing my girlfriend." Seth replied, not even looking up from his phone. Wendy guessed he was texting Mandi.

"Wendy, you have a big birthday coming up. Do you want to do anything special for it?" Kathy asked, ignoring everyone's complaints.

"What? I don't know." Wendy replied. Her stomach was starting to bother her again.

"Seth, what did we do for your eighteenth?" Kathy asked. Seth shrugged.

"I've slept since then." he replied.

"I remember. You all went ice skating at some fancy place in Denver and Seth got in trouble for having sex with that Australian foreign exchange student in his car." Jessica replied, smirking. Seth shot her a death glare.

"No, Jess, that was his seventeenth birthday. He was dating Molly on his eighteenth birthday." Wendy replied, smiling in spite of her rolling stomach.

"I remember that. He got that poor girl deported." Martin replied, chuckling.

"She got herself deported because she got pregnant." Seth replied.

"What?!" Kathy asked, shocked.

"Not by me! It was like three months later." Seth replied, rolling his eyes.

"I thought she got deported for having an affair with that creepy teacher's aide." Jessica replied.

"Who do you think knocked her up?" Wendy said. Jessica made a gagging noise.

"Anyway, what did we do?" Kathy asked, going back to Seth's eighteenth birthday.

"Was that the year that we did that giant pizza party?" Martin asked.

"I think it was." Seth replied.

"Molly got mad at you. I remember that part." Jessica replied, grinning.

"Yeah, because he spent most of the night talking to Mandi." Wendy replied, rolling her eyes.

"I did not!" Seth replied.

"Do you want to do a pizza party, Wendy?" Kathy asked. Wendy swore she could hear her stomach gurgle.

"I'm going to be sick." she said, running off to the bathroom.

"We really should take her to a doctor or something." Kathy said, watching Wendy disappear into the bathroom.

"She's fine, Kathy. Stop worrying so damn much." Martin replied.

"I still say she's bulimic." Jessica said.

"Why would you say that?" Seth asked.

"Because she pukes ALL the time!" Jessica replied, rolling her eyes.

"Bulimia is when you throw up after you eat to avoid gaining weight, smart one." Seth replied. He made a face at Jessica and leaned to the side as she tossed a piece of bread at his face.

"Maybe she's doing it to get Token back." Jessica replied.

"You know, maybe she's upset about that break-up." Kathy said, as if it made perfect sense to her.

"Token does have a new girlfriend already." Jessica replied. She had seen him making out with Red at her locker a few days before.

"Should we get her some counseling or something?" Martin asked. He had no idea what he was supposed to do.

"You should probably just talk to Wendy about it." Seth replied. He couldn't believe his parents were just now having this conversation if Wendy had actually been that sick for a month.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. She won't talk to me." Kathy replied, sighing.

"I'll talk to her." Seth replied.

"Sorry guys. I feel a little better now." Wendy said, sitting down at the table.

--

"God, Bebe, you're so hot." Scott moaned. Bebe smiled through their kiss.

"I'm glad you think so." she replied, pulling away.

"No. Come back." he said, pulling her back. She let him kiss her until she felt his hand reaching for the zipper on her jeans.

"Scott. No. Come on." she said, pulling away again. He sighed in frustration, but moved his hand.

"Come on, Bebe. We've been going out for like six months now." he said.

"Actually, it's been almost three months. I'm glad you know how to count." she said, sitting up. He sighed. Bebe sitting up was a sure sign that they were finished fooling around for the evening.

"It feels like six months because I love being with you." he replied, grinning. And hoping like hell he could save his own ass. She smiled, just like he predicted she would.

"You're so full of it. But you're also sweet." she replied.

"I just want to be closer to you. That's all." he said, taking her hand and pulling her down next to him.

"And I'm not ready." Bebe replied, sighing.

"Is it me?" he asked.

"I think I might want to wait until I'm married." Bebe said.

"Is that a proposal?" Scott asked. Bebe rolled her eyes.

"I don't know how I feel about it anymore." she said.

"You almost had sex with Craig." Scott pointed out.

"Almost. Almost doesn't count." Bebe replied. She sat up again and pulled her cardigan back on. It had somehow found it's way onto the floor during their make-out session.

"Where are you going?" Scott asked, sitting up as well. He grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and pulled his t-shirt back over his head. Another casualty.

"It's almost eight. I'm supposed to be studying, remember?" Bebe asked, rolling her eyes. She didn't add that it would probably take her at least half an hour to get home. And her parents didn't exactly know about Scott yet.

"I told you, I'm willing to teach you about your own anatomy any day of the week." Scott replied, wiggling his eyebrows.

"I'm pretty sure that's illegal." Bebe replied, grabbing her purse from the chair in the corner.

"It is not." Scott replied. He had looked it up long ago.

"You're sick." Bebe replied, pulling on her boots.

"You love me anyway." Scott replied, grinning.

"Three months. Not going there." Bebe replied, putting on her coat and zipping it up.

"Do you really have to go?" Scott asked, standing up and walking over to her.

"My parents will kill me if I'm late again." she replied. She kissed his cheek and walked out of his bedroom. He heard the front door open and close and then the sound of her car starting up and driving away. He sighed.

--

"My grandparents are excited for Thanksgiving." Butters said, grinning at Rebecca. She looked up from her Calculus book and smiled.

"I'm glad." she replied. She was supposed to spend Thanksgiving evening with the Stotch family. It would be the first time she had ever met anyone in Butters' family other than his parents. She wasn't really looking forward to it.

"And all my cousins are going to be here too. And they are gonna love you, Becs." he said, grinning again. Rebecca smiled once again.

"They don't have to love me, Butters." she said.

"Why, sure they do. You're my girlfriend." he replied.

"Butters…we need to talk." she said. There, she had finally blurted out what she had been wanting to say to him for a month. Except she wasn't totally sure what she should say to him.

"I agree." he replied. Well that was a surprise.

"You do?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah. We need to talk about what we're gonna do for Christmas." he replied.

"Christmas?" Rebecca asked, frowning. That wasn't what she wanted to talk about.

"Well yeah. See, I've been lookin' at this ring that I want to buy for you. A promise ring, I guess." he said, blushing.

"Wait…a promise ring?" Rebecca asked, thoroughly confused.

"Well yeah. I know it ain't an engagement ring or anything like you were probably hoping for, but I don't have much money right now." Butters said. Rebecca was sure that her jaw was gong to fall off of its hinges.

"An engagement ring? Butters, we haven't even been together that long!" she exclaimed.

"I know it's soon and all, but I love you, Becs." Butters said, taking her hand. Rebecca wasn't quite sure what to say. Luckily, Linda chose that moment to walk through the front door.

"Butters?" she asked.

"Well, I'm right here." he replied.

"What are you doing? Oh, hi, Rebecca." she said, smiling politely at Rebecca before turning her attention back to Butters.

"Well, I was just talkin' to Rebecca about buyin' her a promise ring for Christmas." Butters said, grinning at his mother. Linda frowned.

"Butters, you know that we discussed this with your father last week. We told you that you were not going to buy Rebecca any kind of ring for Christmas this year." she said, her eyes narrowing. She shot a dirty look at Rebecca, who shrugged. It definitely wasn't HER idea.

"But Mom, don't you get it? I love her!" Butters said. Rebecca could see his inner eight-year old coming through. Oh yeah, and she was freaked out of her goddamn mind because of what he had just said.

"Butters! What did you just say?" Linda asked, the look of shock on her face mirroring the look on Rebecca's.

"I said I love her!" Butters replied, a look of defiance forming in his eyes.

"Butters, you are grounded, mister! How many times have we told you not to fall for some girl you meet in high school?" Linda demanded.

"Four times, mom." Butters replied, letting go of Rebecca's hand and suddenly becoming very interested in the living room carpet.

"Well obviously those four times were useless, now weren't they?" Linda replied.

"I'm sorry." Butters said.

"You just wait until your father hears about this. I'm going to call him right now!" Linda said, stomping off to the kitchen. Butters sighed.

"Well, now I'm in a whole world of trouble." he said. He sounded on the verge of tears.

"Butters, why did you say that?" Rebecca asked.

"Because it's true." he replied, smiling at her. Rebecca sighed. This poor kid was about to have his world crash down around him.

"Butters, I don't want you to buy me a promise ring for Christmas. Or an engagement ring." she said, sighing. She felt like the worst person in the world.

"Becs, you don't have to say that." he replied. He took her hand again, but she pulled away.

"No, Butters. I don't think we should see each other anymore. I think we feel very differently about one another and I don't want to lead you on or something." she said.

"Are you breaking up with me?" he asked, shocked. She sighed.

"Yeah, Butters. I am." she replied.

"But…but I love you. You can't do this!" he replied. She saw tears forming in his eyes.

"It's not going to work out. This got way more serious than I wanted it to." she said.

"Rebecca, please don't do this. I can change. I'll be the boyfriend you want!" he replied. She shook her head.

"No, Butters. I don't love you. I'm sorry." she said. Now he was just starting to get annoying.

"Please reconsider!" Butters said. He hadn't felt this desperate since they took his precious back to the video store.

"We can still be friends." Rebecca said, smiling. Even though she knew damn well that they weren't going to be friends.

"I…I…" Butters said. Or hiccupped.

"I'll just…show myself out." Rebecca said, standing up and leaving. She felt terrible for breaking Butters' heart. He was like a little kid in a way. She opened her car door and got in. As she buckled her seatbelt and started the car, she thought about Stan and how he would be happy to hear the news. If he would even speak to her again. They hadn't really spoken since she asked for space after her birthday party.

"Rebecca? Rebecca, wait." Linda Stotch called. Rebecca sighed, but turned off her car and got out anyway.

"What's up, Mrs. Stotch?" she asked, hoping that she wouldn't lecture her.

"Are things between you and Butters really over?" Linda asked, frowning.

"Yeah." Rebecca replied. She wasn't sure what else to say.

"You broke his heart." Linda said. Yet she wasn't really being confrontational or accusatory.

"Look, I didn't mean to, okay? Things wouldn't have worked out between us." Rebecca replied. She shivered as a cold wind blew through. She was only wearing a light sweater coat.

"It's just as well, I suppose. Have a nice night." Linda said, walking back towards the house.

"Mrs. Stotch? Tell him I said sorry." Rebecca called after her. Linda merely nodded and walked back inside the house.

--

"Dude, fuck this fucking project." Cartman said, throwing his poster board on the table.

"Keep gluing, asshole." Kyle said, not even looking up from his.

"Dude, we've been working on this for like three hours now. It's not even due until after Thanksgiving." Stan said, putting his poster board down as well.

"Yeah, and if we don 't work on it now, then we won't have time over Thanksgiving weekend and we'll be doing it all at the last fucking minute and goddammit, I will not get a bad grade on this, Stan!" Kyle exclaimed. They had been working on their project for AP Psychology for three hours each day for about a week. They were actually almost finished, but Kyle was being a perfectionist about it.

"Dude, you're not going to get a bad grade. Chill out." Stan replied. The project was on schizophrenia. They had to do a ten minute presentation on it. They had already finished the presentation part and had since moved on to making the posters.

"Well, Jew Boy, I'm going to order pizza." Cartman said, pressing the speed dial button for Pizza Shack on his cell phone.

"You would have it on speed dial, you fat fuck." Kyle replied, rolling his eyes.

"Kyle, so help me, I am bigger and stronger than you. I could easily snap you in half. You would be better off shutting your goddamn Jew mouth." Cartman said, rather calmly.

"Dude, how much pizza are you ordering?" Kenny asked, walking in.

"How is it that you always manage to show up right when we're either eating or ordering food, Kenny?" Stan asked. Kenny shrugged.

"Dude, I don't know. It's a gift." he replied, digging through Cartman's kitchen cabinets.

"Yes, yes, thank you." Cartman said, hanging up the phone.

"Well?" Stan asked.

"Oh. I got four large pizzas. You assholes owe me ten bucks each." Cartman said.

"Jesus Christ, Cartman. I'm not going to eat a whole large pizza by myself." Kyle replied.

"I'll take what you don't eat." Kenny replied.

"Goddammit Kenny. You better not have stolen shit out of my kitchen again." Cartman said, glaring at him.

"Dude, I have to feed my family somehow." Kenny replied. Cartman started to say something else, but his back door opened and Katie McCormick walked in.

"Oh, what the fuck is this?" Cartman demanded. Katie rolled her eyes.

"The electricity went out. Mom said to come over here if I wanted to do homework." Katie replied, shrugging. She sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out her Calculus book and began to work the problems.

"Bitch, did I say you could sit down?" Cartman asked, glaring at her. Katie shrugged.

"Look, asshole, I'll be leaving as soon as Jessica gets home. For now, I'm doing my homework. I'm not going to bug you or anything. Jesus." she replied, rolling her eyes.

"I don't mind if she hangs around." Kyle said. Everyone turned to give him a weird look.

"Thank you, Kyle." she said, smiling.

"Do you, uh…do you need any help with that?" Kyle asked, gesturing towards her Calculus homework.

"Oh, no. I've got it." she said. She smiled at him again and went back to the homework. Kyle was impressed with how fast she worked, especially considering the fact that she didn't even have a calculator. He pulled out his own and tried to hand it to her.

"Here, it might make things easier." he said, feeling the tips of his ears turn as red as his hair. She shook her head.

"Oh no, I know how to do everything in my head." Katie said.

"Katie is a genius." Kenny said, shrugging. Katie rolled her eyes.

"Everyone is a genius compared to you." she replied.

"No, seriously. She takes classes at South Park Community College and everything. She's probably going to graduate with our class." Kenny said.

"Wow, really?" Kyle asked. Katie shrugged.

"I could if I wanted to. I'm just not sure if that's what I want yet." she replied.

"That's pretty cool, dude." Kyle said, actually impressed. Katie shrugged.

"Whatever, I guess." she said.

"Do you know what you want to study in college?" Kyle asked.

"Dude, Kyle, leave her alone." Stan said.

"Yeah, Kyle. Put your boner back in your pants and leave her alone." Cartman said. Kyle glared at him.

"No no, it's okay. I don't know what I want to study. I'm thinking pre-med, though." Katie replied.

"I'm glad that you have goals. You know, considering your family and your life and stuff." Kyle said.

"Dude!" Stan said, hoping that Katie wouldn't take offense. Luckily she didn't.

"Oh…thanks, Kyle. I'm glad you approve?" she replied.

"I didn't mean to sound like a dick." Kyle said, blushing. Katie shrugged.

"You didn't." she replied.

"I suppose you expect us to feed you fucking dinner too." Cartman said, glaring at her. She shrugged.

"I'm not going to refuse food. But I won't steal it like my brother. By the way, that ham your mom buys is really good." Katie replied. Kyle laughed.

"I knew he was stealing food from here. I knew it!" Cartman replied, glaring furiously at Kenny.

"Hey, I have to feed my family somehow, asshole!" Kenny replied.

"Yeah, well, if your dad would get a job, you wouldn't have that problem, would you, you poor piece of shit?" Cartman replied.

"Actually, we more or less take care of ourselves. And our dad moved out like, two years ago." Katie said.

"Dude, your dad left?" Stan asked, looking at Kenny.

"Yeah, well, are you really shocked?" Kenny asked.

"No, not really." Cartman replied.

"So when you say you take care of yourself, what do you mean?" Kyle asked, interested.

"Kenny has a job." Katie replied.

"And Katie gives blow jobs." Kenny replied. Kyle's eyes widened.

"I do not. I tutor people. Mostly in math." Katie replied, rolling her eyes.

"That's her cover." Kenny said.

"Kenny can't accept that he's the only whore in the family." Katie replied.

"Right. Well whatever, bitch. You're not eating any of the pizza." Cartman replied.

"Dude, she can share mine." Kenny replied.

"Or mine." Kyle said. Kenny gave Kyle a weird look.

"Dude, Kyle." Kenny said, realization washing over his features.

"What?" Kyle asked.

"Nothing." Kenny replied, shaking his head. Stan started to say something, but his phone began blasting "Why Can't I?" by Liz Phair.

"What the fuck, Stan?!" Cartman demanded, covering his ears.

"It's Rebecca and I's song. Shut up." Stan replied, walking into Cartman's living room with his phone.

"Jesus Christ, that's their song? That song is fucking awful!" Kenny said.

"That song is better than the crap you listen to." Katie said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey." Stan said from the living room. He opened Cartman's front door and stood in his front yard.

"Hi Stan." Rebecca said.

"What's up?" he asked. She hadn't really talked to him since the night of his birthday party when he drove her home. He was kind of shocked that she was calling him, but he was glad.

"I broke up with Butters." she said, her voice sort of shaky. He frowned.

"You sound kind of upset about it." he said. He hadn't expected her to feel bad about her decision to end things with Butters.

"It was awful. He was so upset. He cried." she said. Stan breathed a small sigh of relief.

"That sucks, but he'll get over it." Stan said.

"Where are you?" Rebecca asked. He realized that she was probably driving.

"I'm at Cartman's. Kyle is making us work on our project for AP Psychology." Stan replied.

"Oh." Rebecca replied.

"Do you want to like…come over? Or something?" Stan asked. Rebecca hesitated before answering.

"No, I should probably go home. Do you want to eat lunch together tomorrow?" Rebecca asked.

"Yeah. Yeah I would." Stan replied.

"Okay. Meet me in front of my locker tomorrow?" she asked. He nodded, but then realized she couldn't see him through a phone call.

"Yeah. I'll see you then." he said. They exchanged goodbyes and hung up. He walked back into Cartman's kitchen with a giant grin on his face.

"What are you smiling about?" Cartman asked.

"Rebecca broke up with Butters." Stan said, sitting down in one of Cartman's kitchen chairs.

"Oh Jesus. You guys are really going to get back together?" Kenny asked, rolling his eyes.

"So what if we do?" Stan asked, rather defensively.

"You're so lame when you have a girlfriend." Kenny replied.

"Dude, he's fucking lame when he doesn't have a girlfriend." Cartman said.

"I think it's sweet." Katie said, smiling at Stan. He shot her a grateful look.

"It's not sweet. He's never been single for more than two months of his life." Cartman replied, rolling his eyes.

"That's not true." Stan said.

"Dude, it sort of is…" Kyle replied, shrugging.

"So you think this is a bad idea?" Stan asked, mainly looking at Kyle. Kyle shrugged.

"Dude, it's your life. Just remember what's important." Kyle said.

"Rebecca is important." Stan said.

"Stan, you are such a pussy." Cartman said.

"School is important too." Kyle said. Stan started to say something else, but he was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. He grabbed the money off of the kitchen counter and stalked off into the living room to pay for the pizza.

"She'll be the death of him, Kyle. Mark my words, she'll be the death of him." Cartman said. Kyle rolled his eyes.

"You have said that about every girl he's ever dated, fatass." Kyle replied.

"He's only dated like four different girls." Kenny pointed out. Kyle shrugged.

--

The Testaburger family put on their happy faces and pretended like they liked each other enough to enjoy a meal together in a restaurant. They continued this façade until they got back into the car and drove home, at which point they turned on each other. It started off innocently enough.

"Hey, Jessica?" Kathy said from the front seat. Jessica rolled her eyes.

"What?" she asked, rather rudely. Martin turned around and shot her a warning glance.

"That waiter left his number for you on the ticket." Kathy said, grinning. Jessica smiled and started to say something, but Martin interrupted.

"Well there's something that's never going to happen." he said.

"What? Why not? He was cute!" Jessica replied.

"Because you're not allowed to date, young lady." Martin said.

"Since when?!" Jessica demanded.

"Since now. I will not have my daughter out gallivanting around with some waiter. No. No way." Martin said. Jessica shot a pleading glance at Kathy. Seth and Wendy sighed in unison.

"Really, Martin, I think you're being unreasonable." Kathy said. Martin shook his head.

"You stay the hell out of this, Kathy." he said. Wendy and Seth looked at each other, wondering if they should jump in and defend their mother.

"Oh, so I raise them for years with no help from you since you're apparently married to your job, but I'm not allowed to interject or have any say when it comes to decisions regarding them? That's real nice, Martin." Kathy said.

"There are too many girls out there getting knocked up. My daughters are not going to be statistics, do you hear me?" Martin said, gripping the steering wheel angrily. Wendy felt her stomach roll.

"No one said anything about her having sex! Jesus Christ, it's just a phone number. Overreact a little more, okay?" Kathy said.

"Ask Seth what guys her age have on their minds. Just ask him." Martin said, glancing at Seth in the rearview mirror. Seth rolled his eyes.

"You can't let Seth speak for every guy in the world! Seth has always made decisions with his dick!" Jessica said.

"And so does every other guy." Martin replied.

"Does this have something to do with me dating Kenny McCormick?" Jessica asked. Martin slammed on the brakes a little too hard as he stopped at the stoplight.

"You dated Kenny McCormick?!" he asked. He was both shocked and disgusted.

"Not for very long." Jessica replied, looking down at her feet.

"She told him no when he tried to get in her pants." Seth offered. Even though he didn't owe Jessica anything for the thinking with his dick comment.

"She knows how to make good decisions. Give her some credit." Kathy said. Martin rolled his eyes.

"I don't want her getting pregnant and dropping out of high school." Martin said.

"Can we stop please?" Wendy asked, trying to choke back the chunks that were rising in her throat.

"Jesus Christ, Wendy. Stop puking everything back up!" Jessica said, annoyed that her sister was trying to direct attention to herself. She had almost convinced her father to see her side. Martin sighed, but he pulled the car over. As soon as it stopped, Wendy was out of it and puking onto the side of the road. Kathy got out of the car as well and stood next to Wendy, rubbing her back and trying to comfort her.

"How long has she been doing this?" Seth asked, actually kind of concerned. Martin shrugged.

"A couple of weeks." he replied. Wendy stopped puking and Kathy helped her back into the backseat. Once she had settled her in, she went around to the front seat and got back in the car. She fastened her seatbelt and Martin began driving again.

"There will be no further arguing tonight. Are we clear?" Kathy asked, first looking at her husband and then at Jessica. Martin nodded, but Jessica wasn't as compliant.

"Mom, this is SO not fair!" she protested. Kathy shot her a dirty look.

"Your sister is sick. You are not going to make it worse for her." Kathy said. Her tone was what finally shut Jessica up. They sat in silence for the rest of the drive home. When Martin pulled the car into the garage, he helped Seth inside with his suitcase while Kathy helped Wendy up to her room. She wordlessly handed Wendy a pair of baggy blue sweatpants and a white tank top to change into. Once Wendy had changed, she walked back into her bedroom and sat down on her bed. Kathy was waiting for her.

"I'm calling the doctor first thing in the morning and we are going in to see her." Kathy said. Wendy sighed.

"Mom, I have school tomorrow. I can't just skip it." Wendy said. Kathy shook her head.

"You haven't missed one day this year. I think you're having so much trouble getting over this because you haven't taken the time to rest and let your body recover." Kathy said.

"I'm going to school right after my appointment." Wendy said. Kathy shook her head.

"Sweetheart, you're going to be lucky if the doctor even lets you come home. You're probably very dehydrated." Kathy replied. Wendy sighed, but didn't say anything else. She allowed Kathy to help her into bed and tuck her in, much like she had done when she was a little kid. She kissed Wendy's forehead and sat the remote control to her TV on her nightstand. As soon as Kathy left the room, Wendy turned on her TV and began channel surfing. She finally settled on some show about cheetahs. Ten minutes into it, there was a light knock on her bedroom door and it opened to reveal Seth.

"I could have been naked or something." she said, not even looking up from the TV. He laughed.

"I figured you would be asleep by now." he said, sitting at the foot of her bed.

"I'm not tired. I actually feel fine right now. Food just makes me really sick." she replied.

"That's really weird." Seth replied. Wendy shrugged.

"Okay, you didn't come in here to check on me. What do you want?" she asked.

"Wendy! Of course I came in here to check on you." he replied. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Right. Now what do you want?" she asked. He sighed.

"Well, first and foremost, I wanted to make sure you were alive." he said. She rolled her eyes.

"And you want to…what? Have me talk Mom and Dad into letting Mandi live here this week? Ask for my help with some college project?" she replied.

"Actually, I was kind of hoping you would let me borrow your car." he said. She shook her head.

"No. You are not having sex in my car, Seth. That's disgusting." she replied. He rolled his eyes.

"I don't want to have sex in your car. I want to borrow it so that I can drive over to Unplanned Parenthood and surprise Mandi." he said. Wendy rolled her eyes.

"Which will ultimately lead to you having sex in my car. Which you are not doing." Wendy said.

"I promise I won't have sex in your car." he said, looking her in the face to prove that he was telling the truth. She rolled her eyes.

"Fine, you can borrow my car. But if I smell something weird in there tomorrow…" she said, trailing off.

"I will pay to have it fumigated." Seth said, finishing her sentence.

"The keys are on my desk." Wendy said, gesturing to the other side of her bedroom. He grinned.

"Thanks Wendy." he said, taking the keys and basically flying out of her room. She rolled her eyes and went back to watching her cheetah show.

--

About two hours after he left Cartman's house, Stan found himself driving around South Park. This eventually led to him driving past Rebecca's house. Four times. When he was about to turn the corner of her street a fifth time, his phone vibrated. He answered it without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" he asked, glancing at the clock. It was about 10:30, so he figured it was probably one of his parents calling to bitch him out about being out so late on a school night.

"Hey, stalker? Stop driving past my house. You're freaking my brother out." Rebecca's voice said. Stan felt like his entire body had turned to ice.

"I'm not being a stalker." he muttered. Rebecca laughed.

"Well whatever. You're driving past my house. Do you want to come in or something?" she asked. He paused before answering. If he went over to her house, her parents would flip the fuck out and she would get in trouble.

"What about your parents?" he asked.

"In Chicago until Wednesday morning for some home schooling convention." she replied. Even though her parents had stopped home schooling their children once they hit high school, they still went to the conventions. They had actually formulated some new teaching method when Rebecca and Mark had been in middle school. As a result, they had become celebrities in the home school world and had been the keynote speakers at every convention since their invention.

"They left you and Mark alone?" Stan asked, incredulous. They were still really overprotective. They usually conned some distant aunt or something to baby-sit whenever they left Mark and Rebecca by themselves for more than a few hours.

"They've been doing that for awhile now, Stan." Rebecca said. Stan took a moment and realized that he didn't actually know much about what had been happening in Rebecca's life since they broke up.

"Oh." he replied, suddenly feeling sort of depressed. She had been such a giant part of his life for two and a half years, and now he didn't even know her.

"So do you want to come in?" she asked. He pulled around in front of her house again and saw that she was standing on her front stoop waiting for him to drive by again. He smiled and parked his car in front of the house.

"I'll be right in." he said, getting out of the car and walking up to her.

--

Kathy crept into Wendy's room after she had fallen asleep and turned off her alarm clock. She also turned off the clock on Wendy's cell phone. She knew that Wendy needed to get a good night's rest before her doctor's appointment the next morning. Kathy herself woke up at 6:30 the next morning and rustled Seth out of bed to get him to give Jessica a ride to school so that she wouldn't wake Wendy up. She then called the family doctor's office and left a message detailing Wendy's symptoms and asking that Wendy be seen that morning. They called her back at 8:30, about half an hour before they opened. They asked if she could bring Wendy in at 10:30, and she told them yes. She allowed Wendy to sleep in until 9:15 before she went in to wake her. As soon as she shook her, Wendy sat straight up.

"Mom? What time is it?" she asked, fumbling around on her nightstand for her phone.

"9:15, sweetie. I've called you into school already and you are going to the doctor at 10:30." Kathy said, using her no-nonsense tone. Wendy sighed, but didn't protest.

"Whatever." she said, and then bolted into her bathroom. Kathy heard the sounds of her retching and silently thanked God that Wendy was seeing a doctor that day. Wendy showered and dressed in loose-fitting clothing because they were comfortable to her. She allowed Kathy to put her hair up in a "sick bun", something she had done before when Wendy was sick as a child. She also allowed her to drive her to the large medical building in Fairplay. She allowed Kathy to sign her in and to fill out the appropriate paperwork. Finally, a nurse wearing a scrub top adorned with various colorful puppies opened the door that separated the exam rooms from the waiting room and looked at the folder in her hand.

"Wendy Testaburger?" she asked. Wendy got up and walked over to the woman.

"That's me." she said. The woman nodded, and then frowned at Kathy, who had followed behind Wendy.

"Mom? Are you coming with us?" the nurse asked. She shot Wendy a questioning look. Wendy turned around and gave her mother a nearly identical look.

"Mom, I'm fine." she said. Kathy nodded once and retreated back to her chair. She had to finish filling out the necessary paperwork anyway. Wendy followed the nurse through the door and shut it behind her. The nurse led her around the corner into what appeared to be a triage area, a lot like the one at Hell's Pass. Wendy had been through their ER triage area when she had broken her wrist in sixth grade and again when she had sliced her hand open in an art class her freshman year of high school. The nurse gestured towards the scale and Wendy stepped up on it. The nurse fiddled with it for a bit and then wrote something down on her chart.

"132. That's good." the nurse said, smiling. Wendy didn't think it was good, but she didn't say anything. Her normal weight lingered around the 125-130 area. The nurse measured her height next, which hadn't changed. She was still 5'5".

"At least that's normal." Wendy muttered. The nurse laughed.

"Okay, hon, now I need you to sit down for a minute so I can get the rest of your vitals." the nurse said. Wendy sat in the blue plastic chair next to the scale. The nurse pulled a cart over from across the hall and attached a blood pressure cuff to Wendy's arm. She also stuck a thermometer in Wendy's mouth. Both the thermometer and the blood pressure machine beeped at the same time. The nurse first glanced at the blood pressure machine and frowned and then the thermometer.

"Your blood pressure is a bit low and your temperature is a bit high. Just 100.1, but still." she said, writing this on the chart.

"Is that bad?" Wendy asked. The nurse paused for a moment.

"It's bad, yes, but I suppose it is to be expected with your symptoms." she said. She closed the folder containing Wendy's chart and gestured for her to follow her into an exam room. Wendy followed her inside and closed the door.

"Should I…?" Wendy asked, gesturing towards the table. The nurse nodded. Wendy climbed up onto the exam table and looked at the nurse expectantly. The nurse sat down on a stool and put Wendy's chart onto a small table that was mounted to the wall. She opened Wendy's chart and uncapped her pen, ready to write.

"I just have some basic medical questions for you. Nothing too probing. When was your last checkup?" the nurse asked. Wendy took a moment to think about it before she finally answered.

"It was in August. My brother had to get a physical for hockey and my mom made the rest of us go in to get them as well." Wendy replied. The nurse nodded.

"Your chart notes that everything was normal. Are you currently taking any medications?" the nurse asked.

"Just the anti-nausea stuff my mom force feeds me everyday." Wendy replied. The nurse smiled and wrote this down.

"Do you smoke? Drink? Take recreational drugs?" the nurse asked.

"No to all three." Wendy replied. The nurse smiled.

"Good girl. When was your last menstrual period?" she asked. Wendy froze. She hadn't really kept track of them. She was usually too busy to even really notice them. They had always been really out of whack anyway.

"I want to say September." Wendy replied. The nurse frowned.

"September? This is November. Are you telling me that your period has been absent for two months?" the nurse replied. Wendy simply shrugged.

"They aren't really regular anyway. I could be wrong. I don't pay much attention to my period." Wendy replied. The nurse nodded and noted this on the chart.

"Are you sexually active?" the nurse asked. Wendy paused. She hadn't actually had sex since her rendezvous with Stan in October. Before that, she hadn't had sex with Token since a couple of weeks after school started. She didn't think that counted as being sexually active.

"No." Wendy replied. The nurse nodded. Wendy briefly wondered if she even believed her.

"Okay, now tell me about your symptoms. What brings you in today?" the nurse asked.

"I've been throwing up a lot lately. I can't eat anything without puking it back up. I told my mom it's probably just school food messing with my stomach, but she freaks out over everything. Now she's making me miss school so you guys can tell me the exact same thing." Wendy replied. The nurse wrote this down.

"When did this start?" the nurse asked.

"I don't know…maybe around mid-October." Wendy replied. The nurse also wrote this down.

"Do you have any other symptoms? Diarrhea, headache, anything?" the nurse asked.

"I guess I've had some headaches, yeah." Wendy replied. The nurse wrote this down as well. Wendy was beginning to wonder just how much the nurse had written down and what exactly she was saying.

"What about fatigue? Are you feeling more tired than usual?" the nurse asked. Wendy smiled.

"Almost all of my classes are AP. I'm the president of my class. I'm the co-president of Future Lawyers of America. I'm treasurer of Park County High School Democrats. I have an internship. I'm applying to colleges. Sleep is kind of a foreign concept to me right now." Wendy replied. The nurse stared at her.

"You have quite a full plate." she said. Wendy nodded.

"Where are you applying to school?" she asked, putting her pen down for a second.

"Northwestern, NYU, University of Colorado, Colorado State, Berkeley, University of Denver, and University of Washington." Wendy replied. She didn't add that the last one had been Seth's idea.

"That's quite the impressive list. Which one is your top choice?" the nurse asked, actually interested. For the first time, Wendy noted that the nurse was close to her age. Very close, in fact.

"I'm not sure. I like them all. I'm probably going to go wherever I get a bigger scholarship." Wendy replied. The nurse nodded.

"That's the way to do it. I'm a Colorado State grad myself." she said, smiling. Wendy nodded.

"That's cool." she replied.

"Class of '04." the nurse said, grinning.

"I know a lot of people who went there." Wendy said. The nurse nodded.

"Back to your symptoms. You have a fever today. Have you had a fever since your symptoms began?" the nurse asked. Wendy shrugged.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I haven't taken my own temperature and I wouldn't let my mom corner me with the thermometer." Wendy said, smiling. The nurse laughed

"Okay, well, the doctor will be in shortly. And by that, I mean she will be in shortly. We've had a lot of cancelled appointments today." the nurse said, standing up. She opened the door and walked out, closing it behind her. Wendy noticed that she had left her chart sitting on the table. She began to wonder if it would be okay to peek at it. Just to see what that damn nurse had written about her. She was about to grab it and look when a light knock on the door interrupted her. Her doctor, Dr. Farmer, walked in and closed the door behind her. She smiled and sat down where the nurse had been just a few minutes before.

"Hello, Wendy." Dr. Farmer said. She put on the reading glasses that were dangling from an eyeglasses chain around her neck and began reading Wendy's chart. Wendy noted that she had lost weight since she last saw her in August and that her brown hair no longer had any gray streaks.

"You look great, Dr. Farmer." Wendy said sincerely. Dr. Farmer simply smiled at her. Apparently Wendy wasn't going to be able to change the subject.

"I saw your mother in the waiting room. She made me sit down and chat with her for a few minutes. She's very worried about you, Wendy." Dr. Farmer said. Wendy looked at the floor.

"She worries too much." Wendy muttered. Dr. Farmer smiled.

"Maybe so, but I'm worried too. Vomiting for several weeks is nothing to play around with." Dr. Farmer scolded.

"It's a virus. No big deal." Wendy said. She wasn't sure why she was being so defensive about it.

"It seems to be lasting an awfully long time to be a virus, dear." Dr. Farmer said. Wendy shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I'm bad about letting myself get better. I've been busy." Wendy said. The doctor got up from the stool and walked over to Wendy. She began poking and prodding her.

"You're dehydrated, my dear." she said. Wendy shrugged.

"So what do I have to do?" Wendy asked.

"I would like to admit you to Hell's Pass for a day or so. To do some tests and give you IV fluids." Dr. Farmer replied. Wendy shook her head.

"Oh no. I don't have time for all of that." Wendy replied. The doctor sighed and shook her head.

"Wendy, I need to know what's wrong with you." she replied.

"Okay, so let's start throwing ideas out. We can figure this out without too many tests." Wendy replied.

"I really want to get some blood work…" the doctor said. Wendy glared at her.

"I do not have time for all of that. Just give me some pills or something and I will go home." Wendy replied. The doctor frowned.

"Young lady, you need to take this seriously." she said. She wasn't surprised that Wendy was resisting, though. She had been told off plenty of times in the past. Wendy thought she was always right.

"I am taking this seriously. But I'm not going to the hospital." Wendy replied, crossing her arms.

"Okay, fine. We'll do this the old-fashioned way." the doctor said. She meant hog-tying her and dragging her to Hell's Pass, but Wendy pointed to the medical reference book on the table. The doctor sighed and opened it up.

"You know, I'm going to use our online database for this." the doctor said. She turned on the small laptop that was sitting on the table and sat back down on the stool. She waited for the computer to start before opening up the program and selecting Wendy's age and sex. After that, she typed in vomiting as a symptom.

"I'm going to assume there's nausea too. Right?" the doctor asked. Wendy nodded.

"Yeah." she replied.

"Okay, is there a specific time of day when this vomiting occurs?" the doctor asked. Wendy shook her head.

"It's pretty much constant." Wendy replied. The doctor looked down at the other symptoms that the nurse had written down on Wendy's chart and typed them into the database as well.

"Okay, sweetie. The database is pulling up a urinary tract infection, food poisoning, gastroenteritis, pregnancy, and an ulcer." the doctor said. Wendy felt her blood run cold in her veins.

"Well, I have been peeing more lately." Wendy replied. And she had, so that wasn't a lie.

"Does it burn when you go to the bathroom?" Dr. Farmer asked.

"Yes. Yes it does." Wendy replied. Dr. Farmer nodded.

"Okay, sweetie. Normally I would make you give me a urine sample to test this, but you're almost eighteen, so I'm going to trust you. I am going to give you some antibiotics." the doctor said. She took out her prescription pad and scribbled something on it. She handed two slips of paper to Wendy.

"Thanks." Wendy replied. The doctor nodded.

"I have also prescribed something for your stomach troubles." the doctor replied, smiling. Wendy nodded. She walked out of the exam room and back into the waiting room. Her mother stood as soon as she opened the door.

"Well?" Kathy asked.

"Urinary tract infection." Wendy replied. Kathy nodded.

"Okay. How does lunch sound?" she asked. Wendy shrugged.

"Sure." she replied.

--

"Hey. Ready?" Rebecca asked, walking up to Stan. He smiled at her. She worked the combination on her locker and put her books inside.

"Yeah. I'm as ready as I'll ever be." he replied. She grinned and shoved him playfully. His late night visit to her house the night before had gone very well. They had wound up sharing a tube of chocolate chip cookie dough and watching whatever HBC movie of the week was on. They had also talked a bit and Stan had made her feel a lot better about her break-up with Butters. Before Stan had finally left at almost midnight, Rebecca had told him that it felt like old times. He had agreed with her.

"I'm starving." Rebecca replied. Stan smiled.

"When are you NOT starving?" he asked. She made a face and shoved him again. He laughed.

"You are so mean to me." she replied, fake pouting. He grinned.

"I'm sorry." he replied. He pulled her into a hug and felt her tense up. She relaxed a couple of seconds later and wrapped her arms around him as well.

"I've missed this." she muttered into his shirt. He nodded.

"Me too." he replied. He kissed the top of her head before pulling away.

"Shall we?" Rebecca asked, extending her arm. He looped his through it.

"To the cafeteria!" he said. They laughed the entire way there. Once they arrived, they split up and went to their respective lunch lines. Stan grabbed his normal meal of a sub sandwich, a salad, a cup of soup, potato chips, fruit cocktail, a brownie, and an energy drink. Rebecca decided on the daily special, which was a grilled chicken sandwich and potato wedges. She also grabbed an apple, a diet pop, and a chocolate covered granola bar. She and Stan met back at the table that they had once shared when they were dating and sat down.

"You still get huge lunches?" Rebecca asked, staring at his tray. Stan laughed.

"You still get twigs and berries?" he replied, referring to her granola bar. She smiled.

"It's good for you." she replied. She picked up her chicken sandwich, removed the top bun, and slathered it with honey mustard. She took a bite of it and chewed. Yup, it was disgusting, but the honey mustard made it better.

"My mom wants to know when you're coming over for dinner." Stan said. He polished off his sandwich and started in on the salad. He slathered it with Italian dressing and took a bite.

"I don't know. Soon, maybe?" Rebecca replied. She ate one of her potato wedges. At least they weren't terrible.

"You want to come tonight? She's making your favorite." Stan said, grinning.

"You had nothing to do with that at all." Rebecca replied.

"Okay, so maybe I told her that you were coming. But now you have to." he replied, smiling. Rebecca smiled as well.

"Fine. What time am I coming over?" she asked.

"I have weight lifting until 4:00. So come over around 4:45?" he asked. Rebecca smiled.

"You're going to be all disgusting from lifting weights. Sweaty and slimy." she said. She made a face. Stan laughed.

"I'm planning on taking a shower." he said. She smiled.

"Okay. I'll come to dinner." she replied.

"And we're taking Sparky for a walk when you come over." Stan said.

"I miss Sparky." Rebecca said. Sparky didn't like many girls, but he had pretty much fallen in love with Rebecca.

"Sparky misses you too. You need to start coming to visit him." Stan replied. He finished off his salad and started in on the cheesy potato soup.

"Yeah, well, maybe I will. To visit him." Rebecca replied. Stan laughed.

"I don't factor in there at all." he said. Rebecca nodded.

"Yeah, I couldn't care less about you. I just want to hang out with your dog." she said. Stan made what was supposed to be a sad face.

"Now you're the one being mean." he said. Rebecca laughed and reached over to pat his hand.

"I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you." she said. He squeezed her hand.

"Yeah, you'd better." he said. He laced his fingers through hers and she felt her face turn bright red.

"Uh…I kind of need that. To eat." she said, pulling her hand away. He smiled.

"Sorry." he said. Only he wasn't actually sorry.

"I really do just need it to eat." she said. She didn't want him to think that she didn't want him touching her or something. Even though she wasn't too sure about whether or not it was too early for them to act like a couple. Besides, they weren't even back together. Yet.

"Yeah, sure. You just don't want to hold my hand." Stan said.

"You have cooties." Rebecca replied.

--

Wendy waited for 4PM to roll around. She knew that Mandi would be working then. She told her mother that she absolutely had to go and get the homework from Mandi. Kathy wasn't happy about it, but she let Wendy go. Wendy drove like a mad woman to Unplanned Parenthood, hoping like hell that Mandi was working. As she pulled into the parking lot, she saw that Mandi's car was parked in one of the front spaces. She parked her car and ran inside. Mandi was at the desk, looking kind of bored. Wendy sighed. She couldn't believe that she was actually going to do this. She walked up to the desk.

"Wendy?" Mandi asked. She was kind of shocked to see her there, but she pulled the stack of notes that she had taken that day out of her bag. She handed them to Wendy, but she didn't really seem to notice.

"Mandi. I…I…" Wendy said. Mandi frowned.

"The notes are all there, Wendy. I promise." she said. Wendy shook her head.

"No, Mandi. I…I need to see a doctor." Wendy said. Mandi's face first registered confusion, but then understanding.

"Okay, well, here. Fill this out." Mandi said, handing Wendy a clipboard. Wendy took it back to the waiting area and began filling it out. She paused when she came to the question about whether or not she needed a pregnancy test. She sighed and checked the box for "yes". She finished filling out the papers and took them back up to Mandi. Mandi read over to make sure that Wendy had filled out everything. When she came to the question about the pregnancy test, she frowned, but she pulled a small cup out of a drawer behind the desk. She handed it to Wendy.

"I pee in this, right?" Wendy asked. Mandi nodded.

"Yeah. The test takes about twenty minutes. If it comes back positive, you can talk to one of the doctors about your options." Mandi replied. She had decided that it was not the time or place to ask Wendy questions about it. As far as she was concerned, Wendy was just another patient. Wendy took the cup and walked into the small bathroom that was directly adjacent to the waiting room. She brought it back out a few minutes later and handed it to Mandi. Mandi labeled it and put it through a small opening in the wall. Someone else must have been back there waiting for it, because it disappeared a couple of seconds later.

"You're not going to tell my brother or anything, are you?" Wendy asked. Mandi shook her head.

"No way. I'm not allowed to do that, plus that's just wrong. It's your place to tell people, not mine." Mandi said, smiling. Wendy let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Mandi. I really mean that." Wendy said. Mandi nodded.

"Look, this isn't really the place to discuss this, but if you want to come over tonight, you can. I get off at six." Mandi said. Wendy shrugged.

"We'll see. There might not be anything to discuss." Wendy replied. She was trying to be optimistic. Mandi looked at Wendy for a second and remembered how sick she had been. She remembered Wendy running off to the bathroom during class or during a meeting. Wendy looking like she had packed on a few pounds despite the fact that she hadn't been keeping much down. Wendy talking about how tired she had been. Mandi had a feeling that there would be plenty to discuss, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she nodded.

"Maybe not." she replied.

--

Rebecca decided that dinner at Stan's was a good enough excuse to change her clothes. She had worn a pair of old jeans and a Park County Cows hoodie to school that day. Not exactly flattering. She dug through her closet until she found a pair of new jeans and a light blue turtleneck sweater. She also decided that it was the perfect time to try out her new perfume. She ran a brush through her hair and touched up her make-up. By the time she had finished, it was nearly time to leave. She was giving herself a final once over in the mirror when she felt eyes on her. She turned around and saw that her brother was leaning against her door frame, arms crossed and head shaking. She rolled her eyes.

"You know, standing there and watching me is pretty creepy." she said. Mark snorted.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked. She rolled her eyes.

"What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" she replied.

"Big date with Butters?" Mark asked.

"No." she replied. Like it was his business.

"What would Butters say if he knew that you had your ex-boyfriend over last night?" Mark asked. Whoops. She had forgotten to tell him that things with Butters were over.

"I doubt he would like it, but it's no longer his business. We broke up." Rebecca replied. She pulled on black flats and grabbed her purse.

"Poor Butters." Mark said.

"He'll survive." Rebecca said. She pulled on her coat and looked at Mark expectantly.

"Are you back together with Stan?" Mark asked. Rebecca paused. She really didn't know.

"Not really, no." she said. She looked at him again before finally pushing him out of her way.

"You could do a lot better." he called after her. She rolled her eyes and walked out the front door.

--

The twenty minutes that Wendy spent waiting for her pregnancy test results were the longest twenty minutes of her entire life. She could not be pregnant. She did not have the time for it. Plus she didn't even want a child. It was way too early in her life to even consider that. In her head, she went over every possible reason for her period to be late. To be puking so much. She found herself actually hoping that she had some kind of tumor or something. She had seen a movie once where a woman had all the symptoms of pregnancy, but the pregnancy had turned out to be some kind of ovarian cancer or something.

"Wendy?" Mandi said, startling her out of her thoughts. Wendy stood up and walked up to the window that Mandi sat behind.

"Yeah?" Wendy asked. Her voice sounded small and shaky.

"The doctor has your results. Go through those doors and to exam room three." Mandi said, pointing towards the double doors that separated the waiting room from the actual exam rooms.

"She wants to see me…does that mean it's bad news?" Wendy asked. Mandi shrugged.

"It's standard procedure. She's going to want to talk to you no matter what." Mandi replied. Wendy nodded. She walked through the doors and found exam room three almost immediately. She knocked on the door once and then entered. A young doctor with short red hair was sitting at a desk. Wendy saw that her urine sample was sitting next to the doctor.

"Ah, Wendy, I presume? Take a seat right there." the doctor said, pointing to a chair next to her. Wendy realized that there was no exam table in the room. That could be good news, right? She sat down in the chair and looked at the doctor.

"So?" she asked.

"Well, we have your test results. The test came back positive." the doctor said. Wendy frowned.

"Positive as in good?" she asked. The doctor smiled sadly.

"Positive as in you are pregnant." the doctor said. Wendy felt like someone had punched her in the stomach.

"And that test…it's…accurate?" Wendy asked. The doctor nodded.

"Yeah, it's very accurate. If you don't mind, I would like to do a pelvic exam. Is that okay?" the doctor asked. Wendy nodded. The doctor motioned for Wendy to follow her. They walked down the hall and entered a room that did have an exam table. The doctor handed Wendy a gown and walked out of the room. Wendy quickly changed into it and the doctor came back into the room. Wendy hopped up on the table. She felt numb.

"I can't be pregnant." she said. Not necessarily to the doctor, just out loud. The doctor sighed.

"I know it seems overwhelming, sweetie, but you are going to get through this." the doctor said. She motioned for Wendy to put her feet into the stirrups at the end of the table. Wendy flinched when the doctor began poking around, but it was over pretty fast. The doctor pulled her gloves off and threw them in the trash. She walked back over to a desk in the corner of the room and Wendy pulled her feet out of the stirrups.

"Well?" Wendy asked. The doctor pulled out a small chart.

"It looks as though you are about seven weeks pregnant." the doctor said.

"Okay." Wendy said. That sounded about right.

"When was your last period, sweetie?" she asked. Wendy frowned.

"September, I think." she said. The doctor looked down at her little chart.

"What day in September?" she asked. Wendy pulled out her cell phone. She remembered that she had gotten her period the weekend before she had had that giant test in AP Psychology. She flipped through her phone's calendar and tried to find the day.

"The 23rd, I think." Wendy said. The doctor nodded.

"Did you have sex anytime around that day?" the doctor asked. Wendy blushed.

"I had sex after Homecoming." she said. The doctor nodded.

"And that was…what, October 7th?" she asked, looking at a calendar on the desk. Wendy nodded.

"When was the last time you had sex before then?" she asked. Wendy frowned.

"August, maybe?" she said. The doctor nodded.

"I think Homecoming was the night of the conception, then." she said. Wendy shrugged. Sure, whatever.

"So based on this, your baby will be due on June 30th." the doctor said. Hearing the word "baby" was what did it for Wendy. She began to cry. The doctor handed her a box of tissues.

"I'm only seventeen. I can't have a kid." she said. She wiped her eyes with one of the tissues.

"Well, sweetie, you have some options." the doctor said. Wendy nodded.

"I know. But…oh my GOD. This is too much!" she said. The doctor pulled out a few brochures and placed them on the desk for Wendy to see. One was about parenting. Another was about adoption. The third one was about abortion. Wendy reached for the parenting one at first, but changed her mind and went for the adoption one.

"Just a bit of information for you. We do not handle prenatal care here, but we will refer you somewhere. We can also refer you to an adoption agency if that is what you choose." the doctor said. Wendy sighed and looked at the abortion brochure.

"And you perform abortions in this clinic." Wendy said. She knew that they did. She had seen the protesters there dozens of times.

"That's right." the doctor said.

"What if I wanted to have an abortion?" Wendy asked.

"Well, legally, you can't have one now without notifying your parents." the doctor said. Wendy nodded.

"I'm going to be eighteen really soon." she said. The doctor checked her chart.

"December 6th. You could still have a legal abortion up to that point." the doctor said. Wendy nodded.

"How much?" Wendy asked. The doctor pulled out a price sheet.

"Well, with the labs and everything, it would cost about $400." the doctor said. Wendy sighed. She didn't have that kind of money. She had about $300 in her savings account.

"Are there payment plan options?" Wendy asked. The doctor shook her head.

"You know, I'm not the one to talk to about that. You need to make an appointment to talk to Cecelia. She's our pregnancy options counselor and she will go over all of this information with you." the doctor said.

"Okay, when can I see her?" Wendy asked.

"She's off until Monday. She took paid time off for Thanksgiving. I'm sure you could get in to see her on Monday, though." the doctor said. Wendy and the doctor finished up and Wendy walked back out to the waiting room. She approached the window and Mandi smiled at her, but stopped smiling when she saw the look on Wendy's face.

"I'm supposed to make an appointment to see someone named Cecelia." Wendy said. Mandi nodded and pulled something up on the computer.

"Cecelia is off until Monday. I assume you want something after school?" Mandi asked. Wendy nodded.

"Yeah." she said.

"Okay, I can do a Monday appointment at 3:30." Mandi said. Wendy nodded.

"Okay, thank you." she said. She took the small card that Mandi handed her and left the clinic.

--

"It's so great to see you." Sharon Marsh said. Rebecca smiled. They were all sitting at the Marsh family dinner table. Sharon had made chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes just as she had promised to do at Stan's birthday party.

"I'm glad to be here." Rebecca said. Stan smiled at her.

"Red never wanted to eat my cooking." Sharon said. Randy snorted.

"Red never wanted to eat period." he said. Sharon stifled a laugh and Stan snorted.

"Well…I love your cooking." Rebecca replied. She didn't care for Red, but she didn't want to be a total bitch and tear her down at the dinner table.

"Plus she's a real bitch." Randy said. Rebecca raised her eyebrows.

"Well…she's not very nice." Rebecca said. Sharon smiled.

"Now Randy, don't tear down Stanley's ex-girlfriend in front of his new girlfriend. Well, can we call you his new girlfriend? Anyway, don't say bad things about Red in front of Rebecca. It's rude." Sharon said.

"She's not his new girlfriend, Sharon. He dated her for like seven years." Randy said. Rebecca laughed.

"Two and a half, actually." she said.

"Are you two back together?" Sharon asked. Rebecca and Stan exchanged glances. Neither was sure what to say.

"We're talking about it." Stan said. Rebecca wondered if Sharon would probe further, but she simply smiled and nodded.

"Good." she said. They finished their dinner and dessert and Rebecca and Stan excused themselves to Stan's room for awhile. Rebecca sat down on his bed and smiled. Stan sat next to her, but not too close.

"Your room still smells the same." Rebecca said. Stan grinned.

"Unfortunately." he replied. Rebecca smiled and looked across the room at his desk. She saw that he still had a picture of the two of them sitting on it. She walked over to it and picked it up. It was the picture of them from Homecoming their junior year.

"You kept this?" she asked. His face turned red."Well…yeah." he said. She smiled. She had kept all of her pictures of the two of them as well. They had just found a new home in a box on the top shelf of her closet.

"Did it piss Red off?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Red never came in my room." he replied. Rebecca laughed.

"I see." she said.

"Yeah…" he replied.

"So you two never…?" she asked, trailing off. His face turned red again.

"We did. A few times." he replied. Rebecca nodded.

"Just not here." she said. He nodded.

"And you and Butters?" he asked. Now it was her turn to blush.

"A few times." she replied. He made a face.

"Sick." he said. She laughed.

"It wasn't that bad. It's just…Butters." she said. He nodded. He knew exactly what she meant. She sat back down on the bed, this time closer to him. He smiled and hesitantly put his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"What are we doing?" he asked. He felt her shrug.

"I don't know. Maybe we should figure it out." she replied. He smiled.

"Maybe." he said.

--

As soon as Wendy arrived home, Seth cornered her.

"We need to talk." he said. She looked at him like he was crazy, but nodded.

"Okay. Talk." she said. He shook his head.

"Nope, not here. Your room." he said. She followed him upstairs and into her room. He shut the door and sat down in her chair. She sat down on her bed and stared at him.

"What's up?" she asked. She briefly wondered if he knew that she was pregnant, but she trusted Mandi not to say anything.

"Something is wrong with you." he said. She raised her eyebrows.

"Seth, you're confusing us again. Something is wrong with YOU." she said. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious, Wendy. Something is not right with you. You don't want to tell Mom or Dad and that's fine, but you need to tell me." he said. Wendy wasn't sure she'd ever had this kind of conversation with Seth. Still, she felt she could trust him.

"Fine. I went to Unplanned Parenthood today. I'm pregnant." she said. She flinched as she uttered the last sentence, but Seth didn't say anything for awhile. Finally, he spoke.

"Mom and Dad might kill you." he said. She rolled her eyes.

"Right, because I hadn't thought of that myself." she snapped.

"What are you going to do?" he asked. She sighed and shook her head.

"I have no idea." she said. She began to cry. Seth walked over to the bed and sat next to her. He pulled her into a hug.

"It's going to be okay. I'm here for you." he said. She nodded. For the first time since she had found out she was pregnant, she felt like things might be okay.

--

Author's Notes: Again, sorry that this took so damn long to post. I suck at updating, I truly do. Also, I'm not sure when Wendy's birthday is, so I just said December 6th. Don't question me. Now review.


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